英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bull (n.3)[bull 词源字典]: "false talk, fraud," Middle English, apparently from Old French bole "deception, trick, scheming, intrigue," and perhaps connected to modern Icelandic bull "nonsense."
Sais christ to ypocrites ... yee ar ... all ful with wickednes, tresun and bull. ["Cursor Mundi," early 14c.]
There also was a verb bull meaning "to mock, cheat," which dates from 1530s.[bull etymology, bull origin, 英语词源]
designing (adj.): "scheming," 1670s, present participle adjective from design (v.).
enterprising (adj.): "eager to undertake, prompt to attempt," 1610s, present participle adjective from the verb enterprise (late 15c.), from the noun enterprise. Until mid-19c. (at least in Britain) mostly in a bad sense: "scheming, ambitious, foolhardy." Earlier (1560s) as a verbal noun meaning "action of undertaking."
fetching (adj.): 1580s, "crafty, scheming," present participle adjective from fetch (v.), in one of its extended senses, here "bring or draw into a desired relation or condition." The sense of "alluring, fascinating" is by 1880, from the verb in the sense "allure, attract, fascinate" (c. 1600). Related: Fetchingly.
intrigue (v.): 1610s, "to trick, deceive, cheat" (earlier entriken, late 14c.), from French intriguer (16c.), from Italian intrigare "to plot, meddle," from Latin intricare "entangle" (see intricate). Meaning "to plot or scheme" first recorded 1714; that of "to excite curiosity" is from 1894. Related: Intrigued; intriguing (1680s, "plotting, scheming;" meaning "exciting curiosity" is from 1909).
machination (n.): late 15c., "a plotting, intrigue," from Old French machinacion "plot, conspiracy, scheming, intrigue," from Latin machinationem (nominative machinatio) "device, contrivance, machination," noun of action from past participle stem of machinari "contrive skillfully, to design; to scheme, to plot," from machina (see machine (n.)). Related: Machinations.
Messalina: "scheming and licentious woman," 1887, in reference to Valeria Messalina, notorious third wife of Roman emperor Claudius.
scheme (v.): "devise a scheme," 1767 (earlier "reduce to a scheme," 1716), from scheme (n.). Related: Schemed; scheming.