Obs. Forms: 4–7 trayne, 4–5 treyne, trayn, 5 north. trane, 6–7 traine, 6–8 train. [a. OF. traïne guile, deceit, ruse (12th c. in Godef.), n. of action f. OF. traïr, (Fr. trahir) to betray; cf. haine (OF. haïne), saisine, f. haïr, saisir. Cf. the phrases ‘withouten train,’ ‘false train,’ etc., with OF. sans traine, fausse traine, etc.
In senses 2, 3, and 4 this word appears to be associated with senses 7 and 13 b of TRAIN sb.1]
1. Without a or pl.: Treachery, guile, deceit, trickery.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3789. Ulexes … falsest in his fare, and full of disseit, Vndertaker of treyne, of talkyng but litill.
c. 1400. Non-Cycle Myst. Plays, 7/67. We schal home tell, withouten trayn, Bothe word & werk, how hit was.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., x. 330. Do wa, Ioseph,… Turne home to thi spouse agane, look thou deme in hir no trane, ffor she was neuer ffylde.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. vi. 41. Thou cursed Miscreaunt, That hast with knightlesse guile, and trecherous train, Faire knighthood fowly shamed.
a. 1600. Flodden F., VII. (1664), 70. Trusting his talk was void of trayne.
b. With a and pl. An act or scheme designed to deceive or entrap, a trick, stratagem, artifice, wile.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 295. Þe kyng of Almayn[e] … He mad a fals trayn[e] … He sent Edward to say, help him mot he nouht.
a. 1350. St. Nicholas, 322, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 15. Now wote I wele, þou es vntrew … I trow ȝour law be bot a trayne.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 4904. Dredynge ay þat þese ilke tweyne Be som engyn or conspired treyne To þe Grekes wolden hym be-tray.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme, Brit. (1811), 213. Mortymer was, by a trayne, taken in the castell of Notyngham.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 118. Diuellish Macbeth, By many of these traines, hath sought to win me Into his power.
1739. G. Ogle, Gualtherus, 23. An artless Mind, Unpractis’d in the Trains of Womankind.
1767. Mickle, Concub., II. xlvi. The Nymph … With wylie Traines the Sonnes of Earth besett.
2. A trap or snare for catching wild animals; also fig. (In phrase to lay a train, associated with or merged in senses of TRAIN sb.1)
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 241. Bot if a king his wille Fro lustes of his fleissh restreigne, Ayein himself he makth a treigne, Into the which if that he slyde, Him were betre go besyde.
c. 1420. ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 773. That no maner trayne nor caltrop theryn wore.
1530. Palsgr., 282/2. Trayne a trappe, atrappe.
1624. Quarles, Sion’s Elegies, iii. Poems (1717), 393. I seek my peace, but seek my peace in vain; For every way’s a trap: each path’s a train.
a. 1630. D. Hume, Hist. Ho. Douglas & Angus (1644), 30. Fearing … that there was some train laid for them, he turned about to have retired into the Castle.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, XI. 1056. Vain Fool and Coward,… Caught in the Train which thou thyself hast laid.
3. Something designed to lure an animal into a trap or snare; a lure, bait, decoy, enticement; also fig.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 6981. [The tiger] ys deceyved by merours Which the hountys for socours Caste in the waye for a treyne.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 566/25. Attractorium, a trayne, sed melius a trays.
1548. Cranmer, Catech., 97 b. Thou mayst make no traynes to bring him in to thy snare.
1602. Hist. Eng., in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), II. 464. The barbarous people … leaving their cattle abroad, as a train, to draw them [the Romans] within danger.
† 4. A live bird attached to a line, or a lame and disabled bird, given as an enticement to a young hawk during its training. (Sometimes explained as the short flight that the hawk makes in trying to capture this: see TRAIN sb.1 3.) Obs.
1496. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 287. Giffin to the man that brocht tua quyk herounis to the King, to make tranys to balkis,… ix s. Ibid., 291. Item, for a duke to be a trane to a halk … xij d.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 117. When a sparow hawke is manned and reclaymed, then give her nine or ten traynes at the least, and when she killeth feede hir up alwayes.
1611. Cotgr., Tome, a traine with a lame and disarmed Heron, for the making of a young Faulcon.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 709. These flights are called traines, because they only traine or teach a young Hawke how to bestow her wing, and make her selfe victor ouer the prey.
