Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something that tempts or attracts with the promise of pleasure or reward.
  • noun An attraction or appeal.
  • noun A decoy used in catching animals, especially an artificial bait used in catching fish.
  • noun A bunch of feathers attached to a long cord, used in falconry to recall the hawk.
  • transitive verb To attract or entice, especially by wiles or temptation.
  • transitive verb To recall (a falcon) with a lure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as lore.
  • noun In falconry, a decoy used to recall the hawk to its perch on the fist.
  • noun In heraldry, the representation of a lure with a line or leash at the end of which is a hawk's bell.
  • noun In angling, an artificial as distinguished from a natural bait; something to attract a fish which the fish cannot eat.
  • noun Any means of enticement; anything that attracts by the prospect of pleasure or profit.
  • noun An enticing action or display; allurement; enticement; temptation.
  • noun A Middle English form of leer.
  • noun In hat-manuf., same as looer.
  • noun An ancient form of trumpet still in use in Scandinavia, having a curved tube several feet long, used for calling cattle, and by traveling parties as a signal.
  • To call; utter a peculiar call or cry, as in attracting an animal.
  • To attract as by a falconer's lure and call; decoy; entice by the display of something.
  • To allure; entice; invite by anything that promises pleasure or profit.
  • Synonyms Entice, Decoy, etc. See allure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To recall a hawk or other animal.
  • transitive verb To draw to the lure; hence, to allure or invite by means of anything that promises pleasure or advantage; to entice; to attract.
  • noun A contrivance somewhat resembling a bird, and often baited with raw meat; -- used by falconers in recalling hawks.
  • noun Any enticement; that which invites by the prospect of advantage or pleasure; a decoy.
  • noun (Hat Making) A velvet smoothing brush.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure.
  • noun fishing An artificial bait attached to a fishing line to attract fish.
  • noun A bunch of feathers attached to a line, used in falconry to recall the hawk.
  • verb To attract by temptation etc.; to entice.
  • verb To recall a hawk with a lure.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun qualities that attract by seeming to promise some kind of reward
  • verb provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion
  • noun something used to lure fish or other animals into danger so they can be trapped or killed
  • noun anything that serves as an enticement

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglo-Norman lure, from Old French loirre (Modern French leurre), from Frankish lothr, from Proto-Germanic *lōþr-. Compare English allure, from Old French.

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