lure

CEFRC1

/lʊə/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To attract someone or something by offering an appealing reward.

  2. 02

    noun

    Something used to attract a person or animal.

Examples

  • I could not resist the lure of great profits.

  • He felt the lure of adventure.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ljʊə/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A bunch of feathers attached to a line, used in falconry to recall the hawk.

  2. An artificial bait attached to a fishing line to attract fish.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure.

More examples

In context

  • How many have with a smile made small account Of Beauty and her lures

  • My Faulcon now is ſharpe and paſſing emptie, / And til ſhe ſtoope ſhe muſt not be full gorg'd, / For then ſhe never lookes upon her lure.

  • Professor is what you become after teaching for twenty to thirty years. Research Professor is what you then want to become, so you can finally stop worrying about students and do the research that lured you into academia in the first place!

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The fisherman used a shiny object to blank the fish into the net.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Anglo-Norman lure, from Old French loirre (Modern French leurre), from Frankish *lōþr, from Proto-Germanic *lōþr-, perhaps ultimately related to *laþō (“invitation, calling”), or from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“to hide”). Compare English allure, also from Old French. Probably related to German Luder (“bait”).