wheedle
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Uncertain. Perhaps continuing Middle English wedlen (“to beg, ask for alms”), from Old English wǣdlian (“to be poor, be needy, be in want, beg”), from Proto-Germanic *wēþlōną (“to be in need”).
Alternatively (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?), borrowed from German wedeln (“to wag one's tail”), from Middle High German wedelen, a byform of Middle High German wadelen (“to wander, waver, wave, whip, stroke, flutter”), from Old High German wādalōn (“to wander, roam, rove”). In this case, it may be a doublet of waddle, or an independently formed etymological equivalent.
The ⟨wh⟩ spelling (reflecting pronunciations with /ʍ/) is apparently unetymological. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “What is the origin of the "wh"?”)
Pronunciation
[edit]- (without the wine–whine merger) IPA(key): /ˈʍiː.dəl/
- (wine–whine merger) IPA(key): /ˈwiː.dəl/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -iːdəl
Verb
[edit]wheedle (third-person singular simple present wheedles, present participle wheedling, simple past and past participle wheedled)
- (transitive, intransitive) To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.
- I’d like one of those, too, if you can wheedle him into telling you where he got it.
- 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath's Tale”, in Nevill Coghill, transl., The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 290:
- Though he had beaten me in every bone / He still could wheedle me to love.
- (transitive) To obtain by flattery, guile, or trickery.
- 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xviii, page 51:
- If the worſt come to the worſt,—I'll turn my Wife to Graſs—I already have a deed of Settlement of the beſt part of her Eſtate; which I wheadl'd out of her; [...]
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Noun
[edit]wheedle (plural wheedles)
Anagrams
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