weasel

English

A weasel (1).

Etymology

From Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, from Proto-Germanic *wisulǭ (compare West Frisian wezeling, Low German Wessel, Wissel, Dutch wezel, German Wiesel, Swedish vessla), from Proto-Indo-European *wiselos (compare Irish fíal 'ferret'), from *wis- 'musk, stink' (compare Latin virus 'slimy liquid, mud; stench', Sanskrit विस्र (visra) 'musty, smelling of raw meat)'.

The verb comes from the supposed cunningness of the weasel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwiːzəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːzəl

Alternative forms

• weazel

Noun

weasel (plural weasels)

1. The least weasel, Mustela nivalis.
2. Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genus Mustela, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
3. The taxonomic family Mustelidae is also called the weasel family.
4. A devious or sneaky person or animal.
   • 2016 February 8, Marwan Bishara, “Why Obama fails the leadership test in the Middle East”, in Al Jazeera English^[1]:

     Once you've gone beyond the scripted speeches, soundbites and cliches, you'll notice how the debate about leadership is primarily divided between the three governors and two senators, the other two weasels, Donald Trump and Ben Carson notwithstanding.

5. A type of yarn winder used for counting the yardage of handspun yarn. It most commonly has a wooden peg or dowel that pops up from the gearing mechanism after a certain number of yards have been wound onto the winder.

Hypernyms

• carnivorous mammal

Hyponyms

• short-tailed weasel

Derived terms

• iceweasel
• weaselly
• weasely

Related terms

• weasel word

Translations

least weasel, Mustela nivalis

• Algonquin: cigosi
• Arabic: اِبْن عِرْس‏‎ m (ibn ʿirs)

  Moroccan Arabic: فارة الخيل‏‎ f (farat el-khil) (lit. horse-mouse)

• Armenian: աքիս (hy) (akʿis)
• Basque: erbinude (eu)
• Belarusian: ла́ска f (láska)
• Breton: kaerell (br)
• Bulgarian: невесту́лка (bg) f (nevestúlka)
• Catalan: mostela (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 伶鼬 (zh) (língyòu)

• Czech: lasice f
• Danish: væsel c, brud (da) c
• Dutch: wezel (nl) f, m
• Esperanto: (♂) vizelo (eo), (♀) vizelino
• Estonian: nirk
• Finnish: lumikko (fi)
• French: belette (fr) f, belette d'Europe (fr) f, belette pygmée (fr) f, petite belette (fr) f
• Galician: denosiña f, doniña f, donicela (gl) f
• Georgian: თრითინა (tritina), სინდიოფალა (sindiopala), დედოფალა (dedopala), დედოფალა (dedopala)
• German: Wiesel (de) n, Mauswiesel n, Zwergwiesel n, Kleinwiesel n, (popularly) Hermännchen n
• Greek: νυφίτσα (el) f (nyfítsa)

  Ancient: γαλῆ f (galê)

• Hebrew: סמור‏‎ (he) (samur)
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Irish: bláthnaid ghallda f
• Italian: donnola (it) f
• Japanese: イタチ (ja) (itachi), 鼬 (ja) (いたち, itachi), 鼬鼠 (いたち, itachi), 飯綱 (いいずな, īzuna)
• Korean: 족제비 (jokjebi)
• Latgalian: luoseica
• Latin: mustela f
• Latvian: zebiekste f

• Lithuanian: žebenkštis m
• Low German: Wesel n
• Luxembourgish: Wisel n
• Macedonian: ла́сица f (lásica)
• Malay: wesel
• Mazanderani: لسک‏‎ (lesk)
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii
• Old English: wesle
• Persian: راسو‏‎ (fa) (râsu)
• Polish: łasica (pl) f
• Portuguese: doninha (pt) f
• Romanian: nevăstuică (ro) f
• Russian: ла́ска (ru) f (láska)
• Scots: whitrat
• Scottish Gaelic: neas f, neas bheag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ласица f

  Roman: lasica (sh) f

• Slovene: podlasica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: łasyca f, łasycka f

  Upper Sorbian: kohlica f

• Spanish: comadreja (es) f, mustela f, turón m
• Swedish: vessla (sv)
• Tagalog: mustela
• Turkish: gelincik (tr)
• Ukrainian: ла́ска f (láska)
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf
• Walloon: marcote (wa) f, bascolete (wa) f
• Welsh: gwenci f, bronwen f
• West Frisian: wezeling c

any mammal of the genus Mustela

• Esperanto: (♂♀) mustelo, (♂) virmustelo, (♀) mustelino
• Finnish: kärppä (fi)
• German: Wiesel (de) n
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Indonesian: cerpelai (id)
• Latvian: sermulis m, zebiekste

• Maori: wītara, wīhara, tori uaroa
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii
• Portuguese: doninha (pt) f
• Scottish Gaelic: neas f
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf
• West Frisian: marter c

any mammal of the family Mustelidae

• Esperanto: (♂♀) musteledo, (♂) virmusteledo, (♀) musteledino
• Finnish: näätäeläin (fi)
• Irish: easóg f, cailín uasal m, beainín uasal f

• Maori: tori uaroa
• Spanish: comadreja (es) f
• Walloon: bascolidî (wa) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} nuse e lalës
• Basque: ^{(please verify)} erbinude (eu)
• Belarusian: ^{(please verify)} ласка (laska)
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} невестулка (bg) (nevestulka)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} mostela f
• Friulian: ^{(please verify)} bilite
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} donicela (gl), ^{(please verify)} denociña
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} hreysiköttur (is), ^{(please verify)} vesla
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} donnola (it) f
• Ladin: ^{(please verify)} belora
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} mustela
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} žebenkštis
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} ballottra
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} snømus, ^{(please verify)} vesel

• Occitan: ^{(please verify)} mostèla (oc), ^{(please verify)} polida
• Romani: ^{(please verify)} boriori f
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} nevăstuică (ro) f
• Romansch: ^{(please verify)} mustaila f
• Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} bucca de mele, ^{(please verify)} bucchemeli
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} ласица, ^{(please verify)} lasica
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} lasica
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} podlasica (sl) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} comadreja (es) f, ^{(please verify)} mostela f
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} vessla (sv)
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} ласиця (lasicja)
• Vilamovian: ^{(please verify)} gyfaotela
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} bronwen, ^{(please verify)} gwenci

Verb

weasel (third-person singular simple present weasels, present participle weaseling or weaselling, simple past and past participle weaseled or weaselled)

1. (transitive) To achieve by clever or devious means.
   • 2010 (publication date), Tony Dajer, "Vital Signs", Discover, ISSN 0274-7529, volume 32, number 1, January–February 2011, page 10:

     Prisoners are notorious for weaseling day passes to get out of lockup […] .

2. (transitive or reflexive) To gain something for oneself by clever or devious means.
   • 2006, Tony Ruggiero, Alien Deception:

     He's weaseled himself into a position where he can influence the outcome of this election.

   • 2010, Susie Davis, Uncovered: Revealing the Secrets of a Sexy Marriage, page 147:

     Within just a couple of days, she [a dog] had weaseled her way into our hearts.

3. (intransitive) To engage in clever or devious behavior.
   • 1996, Stefan Bechtel, Larry Stains, Sex: A Man's Guide, page 151:

     Authority figures have a history of weaseling on this topic.

Usage notes

• Weaseling and weaseled are more common in the US. Weaselling and weaselled are more common in the UK.

Related terms

• weasel one's way
• weasel out

Translations

to weasel out of doing something

• Finnish: lusmuilla, kiemurrella (fi)
• Polish: wykręcić się (pl)

• Russian: уви́ливать (ru) impf (uvílivatʹ), увильну́ть (ru) pf (uvilʹnútʹ)

to weasel something out of somebody

• Finnish: huiputtaa (fi), kieroilla

See also

• ferret
• mink
• polecat
• stoat