allurement

Etymology

It is formed from English allure + -ment.^[2][3][4][5] The verb is from Anglo-Norman aleurer (“to lure a hawk”), a 13th-century word,^[2] formed from a- and leurer, the verb behind lure.^[2] Etymonline traces it further to a falconer's lure, from a Frankish word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both the power of alluring and a means of alluring appear in 1548, in the translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament by Udall and others.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the same year,^[6] and Etymonline has the 1540s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb behind the word was first a falconer's term, to lure a hawk, while the noun was used from the start of anything that attracts or tempts.^[2][3] The sense "action of alluring" followed in 1561, in Norton's translation of Calvin.^[2][3] The Shorter Oxford dates the sense "attractive quality" to the late 16th century,^[5] but the OED's revised entry of 2012 has it from 1548.^[2] Johnson (1755) defines it as what allures, an enticement or a temptation of pleasure, and quotes Milton's "Adam, by his wife's allurement, fell".^[7] English also had the verbal noun alluring, recorded from the 1530s, and allurance, recorded from the 1580s.^[3] The noun allure, recorded from the 1540s for the quality of being fascinating, has a sense that Etymonline says properly belongs to allurement.^[3]

Timeline

• 1548 – attractive quality, charm; also a means of alluring, a lure or bait.^[2][6]
• 1561 – the action of alluring; temptation, enticement.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that attracts or entices; a lure: the allurements of life by the sea.^[6][2][5]
2. The act of alluring; temptation.^[6][2][5]
3. The power of attracting; charm, fascination.^[6][2][5]

Related words

• allure
• lure

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.