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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

The mistress of

Samson

, who betrayed him (

Judges xvi.

); hence, a harlot; a temptress.

Other

Delilahs

on a smaller scale Burns met with during his Dumfries sojourn.

J. C. Shairp.

Delilah

The mistress of Samson who betrayed him to the Philistines.
- 1611, Bible (KJV): : Judges 16:6:
  And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
A beautiful, cunning and treacherous woman; a femme fatale.
Though she is something of a Delilah, she is still considered the heroine of the novel.
A female given name of Biblical origin.
- 1919, John Galsworthy, Saint's Progress (Echo Library 2006, ISBN 1847020704), page 104:
  "Leila!" she said enigmatically. "Have you seen her?" "I went to her flat last week with Dad - he likes her." "Delilah is her real name, you know. All men like her. And Captain Fort is her lover."

biblical mistress of Samson