TEMPT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Tempt

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/tɛmpt/ Listen

verb

Tempt v. t. (past & past part. tempted; pres. part. tempting)

To put to trial; to prove; to test; to try. "God did tempt Abraham." "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God."

To lead, or endeavor to lead, into evil; to entice to what is wrong; to seduce. "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

To endeavor to persuade; to induce; to invite; to incite; to provoke; to instigate. "Tempt not the brave and needy to despair." "Nor tempt the wrath of heaven's avenging Sire."

To endeavor to accomplish or reach; to attempt. "Ere leave be given to tempt the nether skies."

Synonyms: To entice; allure; attract; decoy; seduce.

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Etymology of 'Tempt'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tempt" Quotes from Famous Books

... gentleman, sir, and meaning no disrespect, but don't ye go for to tempt Providence by joking about it, and him perhaps brought a hopeless corpse to the side door this very evening," said Mrs. Bundle, her red cheeks absolutely blanched by the vision she had conjured up. Why, ...

— A Flat Iron for a Farthing - or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... gone down onto the ledge with an armful of bread loaves to tempt the elephant out of the water. There he stood holding out a loaf invitingly while the elephant, still half submerged, held his great mouth open and his trunk aloft expecting the man to toss the bread toward him. But this was not ...

— The Boy Scout Fire Fighters • Irving Crump

... assume a wrong position. It behoved him to take possession of it at once, and to take also upon himself alone the knowledge, the trials, and responsibilities it would incur. His cheeks flushed again as he thought he had tried to tempt an innocent girl with it, and he was keenly hurt that he had not seen in Kitty's eyes the tenderness that had softened his partners' refusal. He resolved to wait no longer, but sell his dreadful stock at once. He walked ...

— Selected Stories • Bret Harte

... he said, with what she found a false air of interest. "You don't git out enough. Mebbe you'd ought to git out nights. I've been noticin' how peaked you look, an' I thought mebbe I'd git the old musket loaded up an' go out an' shoot ye a pa'tridge. Tempt your appetite, mebbe, a mite o' ...

— Old Crow • Alice Brown

... the chair-cushion, and the handkerchief all begun for me, but nothing finished. That little wizard—his name is Impulse, you know—which led you to drop the quilt that you might begin the slippers, and the slippers that you might begin the chair-cushion, will soon tempt you to drop the handkerchief for something else. I wish I could catch the jolly little imp. I'd cane him smartly, and then I would lead him to Parson Resolution's church, and marry him to that sweet ...

— Jessie Carlton - The Story of a Girl who Fought with Little Impulse, the - Wizard, and Conquered Him • Francis Forrester

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