different between cajole vs allay

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French cajoler, probably a blend of Middle French cageoler (“chatter like a jay”) (from gajole, dialectal diminutive of geai (“jaybird”)) + Old French gaioler (“entice into a cage”), which is from Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea (“cage, coop, enclosure, stall”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k??d???l/
• (US) enPR: k?-j?l?, IPA^(key): /k??d?o?l/
• Rhymes: -??l
• Hyphenation: ca?jole

Verb

cajole (third-person singular simple present cajoles, present participle cajoling, simple past and past participle cajoled)

1. (transitive and intransitive) To persuade someone to do something which they are reluctant to do, especially by flattery or promises; to coax.

   Synonyms: butter up, coax, entice, inveigle, sweet-talk, wheedle

   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, ch. 12:

     Then he cajoled with his brother, and persuaded him what service he had done him.

   • 1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot, ch. 27:

     If you are cajoled by the cunning arguments of a trumpeter of heresy, or the praises of a puritanic old woman, is not that womanish?

   • 1894, Horatio Alger, Only An Irish Boy, ch. 19:

     He had tried bullying, and without success. He would try cajoling and temptation.

   • 1898, Gilbert Parker, The Battle Of The Strong, ch. 37:

     [W]ith eloquent arts he had cajoled a young girl into a secret marriage.

   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, King Coal, ch. 8:

     Schulman, general manager of the "G. F. C.," had been sending out messengers to hunt for him, and finally had got him in his office, arguing and pleading, cajoling and denouncing him by turns.

   • 2010 August 4, Michael Scherer, "NonSTARTer? Obama's Troubled Nuclear Treaty," Time:

     For weeks, the White House, the Pentagon and Senate Democrats have been working overtime to cajole, convince and placate Republicans.

Derived terms

• cajoler

Translations

French

Verb

cajole

1. first-person singular present indicative of cajoler
2. third-person singular present indicative of cajoler
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of cajoler
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of cajoler
5. second-person singular imperative of cajoler

English

Alternative forms

• alay (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English ?le??an (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjan? (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- +? lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??le?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

allay (third-person singular simple present allays, present participle allaying, simple past and past participle allayed)

1. (transitive) To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.

   Synonyms: appease, assuage, compose, soothe, calm, quiet
2. (transitive) To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.

   Synonyms: alleviate, abate

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To subside, abate, become peaceful.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark IV:

     And the wynde alayed, and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?
4. (archaic) To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
5. (archaic, by extension) To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.

Translations

Noun

allay (plural allays)

1. Alleviation; abatement; check.
2. (obsolete) An alloy.

References

• allay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Layla

Quechua

Noun

allay

1. harvest or digging up of potatoes or tubers

Declension

Verb

allay

1. (transitive) to dig, dig up, dig out, excavate; to harvest tubers

Conjugation

See also

• aymuray
• pallay