wheedle
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Origin uncertain. Possibly from Old English waedlian (“to beg”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
wheedle (third-person singular simple present wheedles, present participle wheedling, simple past and past participle wheedled) (transitive) and (intransitive)
- To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.
- 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales ("The Wife of Bath's Tale"), Penguin Classics, p. 290:
- Though he had beaten me in every bone / He still could wheedle me to love.
- I'd like one of those, too, if you can wheedle him into telling you where he got it.
- 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales ("The Wife of Bath's Tale"), Penguin Classics, p. 290:
- To obtain something by guile or trickery.
