/ensnare/

/ensnare/

Verb.

Pronunciation and accent: ɛnsnɛə(r).

It is dated from the end of 1500.

-) Third-person singular simple present: ensnares.

-) Preterite tense, preterite participle: ensnared.

-) Present participle: ensnaring.

Etymology: it is analysed into en- (prefix) + SNARE (device for capturing animals).

Transitively: 1. To catch (any animated being) in a snare.

-) Synonyms of the verb ensnare: to entrap, snare, gin, trap.

-) Antonyms of the verb ensnare: to free, unsnare.

-) Translation: entrampar, in Spanish; piéger, attraper, in French; trappolare, intrappolare, in Italian.

The native horses of the country are small and ill-looking. The Tartars usually ride them in an amble, and this is the only pace which they go well. Nothing can be more slight and rapid than their method of breaking them in. Having ensnared the animal by means of a rope fixed at the end of a long light pole, they tie a halter round his neck, so tight that there seems to be danger of strangling him, and in this manner they pull him about for some minutes, till they consider him subdued.

John Murray… The Quarterly Review 1823

The Scandinavian or the German was a widely different animal. From time immemorial, […] his own dexterity had ensnared the bird or the fish.

Samuel Dunham… Europe During the Middle Ages 1833

Birds may be taught to assist in ensnaring other birds; but this is simply an effect of habit.

Oliver Goldsmith… A History of the Earth 1855

2. Metaphor: to persuade (a person) into an action, by means of something incorporeal, but similar to a snare in being deceitful.

-) Synonyms: to entrap, beguile, lure.

Somehow or other, by dint of pushing and pulling, they did attain the street at last; where Miss Miggs, all blowzed with the exertion of getting there, and with her sobs and tears, sat down upon her property to rest and grieve, until she could ensnare some other youth to help her home.

Charles Dickens… Barnaby Rudge 1841

“[…] I am not prepared,” he went on, “to deny—perhaps I may have been, without knowing it, in some degree prepared to admit—that I may have unwittingly ensnared that lady into an unhappy marriage […]”

Charles Dickens… David Copperfield 1850

I have been deluded, ensnared, trapped-- trapped by vile agents who have led me into the shambles.

Arthur Doyle… Micah Clarke 1889

-) English words derived from SNARE: ensnarement, ensnarer, ensnaring, ensnaringly, ensnared, snared, snaring, snareless, snarer.