Library / English Dictionary

LURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: lures   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something used to lure fish or other animals into danger so they can be trapped or killed

Synonyms:

bait; decoy; lure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("lure" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lure"):

chum (bait consisting of chopped fish and fish oils that are dumped overboard to attract fish)

fish lure; fisherman's lure ((angling) any bright artificial bait consisting of plastic or metal mounted with hooks and trimmed with feathers)

ground bait (bait scattered on the water to attract fish)

stool pigeon (a dummy pigeon used to decoy others)

Holonyms ("lure" is a part of...):

trap (a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned)

Derivation:

lure (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Qualities that attract by seeming to promise some kind of reward

Synonyms:

come-on; enticement; lure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("lure" is a kind of...):

attraction; attractiveness (the quality of arousing interest; being attractive or something that attracts)

Derivation:

lure (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Anything that serves as an enticement

Synonyms:

bait; come-on; hook; lure; sweetener

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("lure" is a kind of...):

enticement; temptation (something that seduces or has the quality to seduce)

Derivation:

lure (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion

Example:

He lured me into temptation

Synonyms:

entice; lure; tempt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "lure" is one way to...):

provoke; stimulate (provide the needed stimulus for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lure"):

hook; snare (entice and trap)

seduce (lure or entice away from duty, principles, or proper conduct)

call (lure by imitating the characteristic call of an animal)

stool (lure with a stool, as of wild fowl)

lead on (entice or induce especially when unwise or mistaken)

tweedle (entice through the use of music)

decoy (lure or entrap with or as if with a decoy)

bait (lure, entice, or entrap with bait)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Derivation:

lure (something used to lure fish or other animals into danger so they can be trapped or killed)

lure (qualities that attract by seeming to promise some kind of reward)

lure (anything that serves as an enticement)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Ma foi! but they come to our lure like chicks to the fowler.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I do not know by what base deceptions he lured her away from me.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is a matter of history—that secret history of a nation which is often so much more intimate and interesting than its public chronicles—that Oberstein, eager to complete the coup of his lifetime, came to the lure and was safely engulfed for fifteen years in a British prison.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here, signed with her initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped into her hand at the door and which lured her within their reach.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Never had the spirit of adventure lured him more strongly than on this amazing exploration of the realm of mind.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It too, when partially restored, had the common story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

As Kiche, when with the wolves, had lured out to destruction dogs from the camps of men, so White Fang, in manner somewhat similar, lured Lip-lip into Kiche's avenging jaws.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Fire is fanned by the wind until it leaps up fiercely. So is desire like fire. It is fanned, as by a wind, by sight of the thing desired, or by a new and luring description or comprehension of the thing desired. There lies the temptation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Misty ideas of being a young man at my own disposal, of the importance attaching to a young man at his own disposal, of the wonderful things to be seen and done by that magnificent animal, and the wonderful effects he could not fail to make upon society, lured me away.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)