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Origin and history of rile

rile(v.)

"excite, disturb, vex, annoy," 1825, American English spelling alteration to reflect a dialectal pronunciation of roil (q.v.) in a figurative sense. Compare heist from hoist and in the same era spile for spoil (v.). Bartlett writes that in both England and America roil "is now commonly pronounced and written rile" ["Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]. With up by 1844. In the sense of "make (liquid) thick or turbid by stirring up," by 1838. Related: Riled; riling.

Entries linking to rile

1943 (implied in heisted; heister "shoplifter, thief" is from 1927), American English slang, probably a dialectal alteration of hoist (v.) "to lift" in its slang sense of "shoplift," and/or its older British slang sense "to lift another on one's shoulders to help him break in." As a noun from 1930.

1540s, "to raise, lift, elevate," especially with a rope or tackle, earlier hoise (c. 1500), from Middle English hysse (late 15c.), which probably is from Middle Dutch hyssen (Dutch hijsen) "to hoist," related to Low German hissen and Old Norse hissa upp "raise," Danish heise, Swedish hissa. A nautical word found in most European languages (French hisser, Italian issare, Spanish izar), but it is uncertain which coined it. Related: Hoisted; hoisting. In phrase hoist with one's own petard, it is the past participle.

For 'tis the sport, to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petar: and it shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
["Hamlet," Act III, Scene iv]

Meaning "to lift and remove" was prevalent c. 1550-1750. As a noun, 1650s, "act of hoisting;" 1835, "that by which something is hoisted," from the verb.

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Trends of rile

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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