163: allure May 20, 2015

Allure has always meant "the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating". It comes to English through late Middle English, and meant similarly tempt, entice. That word in turn derives from Old French 'aleurier', and that word comes from 'a-' which is a shortened version of the Latin word 'ad' meaning ‘to’ combined with 'luere' which meant ‘a lure’. Even though it's meaning overtime has not changed, its purpose has; the word 'allure' was originally a falconry term.