Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Tempt

Tempt (tĕmt; 215), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tempted; p. pr. & vb. n. Tempting.] [OE. tempten, tenten, from OF. tempter, tenter, F. tenter, fr. L. tentare, temptare, to handle, feel, attack, to try, put to the test, urge, freq. from tendere, tentum, and tensum, to stretch. See Thin, and cf. Attempt, Tend, Taunt, Tent a pavilion, Tent to probe.] 1. To put to trial; to prove; to test; to try.

God did tempt Abraham. Gen. xxii. 1.

Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God. Deut. vi. 16.

2. To lead, or endeavor to lead, into evil; to entice to what is wrong; to seduce.

Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. James i. 14.

3. To endeavor to persuade; to induce; to invite; to incite; to provoke; to instigate.

Tempt not the brave and needy to despair. Dryden.

Nor tempt the wrath of heaven's avenging Sire. Pope.

4. To endeavor to accomplish or reach; to attempt.

Ere leave be given to tempt the nether skies. Dryden.

Syn. — To entice; allure; attract; decoy; seduce.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.