weasel

English

A weasel (1).

Alternative forms

• weazel (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, from Proto-Germanic *wisulǭ. The verb comes from the supposed cunningness of the weasel.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwiːz(ə)l/
• (General American) enPR: wēʹzəl, wēzʹl, IPA^(key): /ˈwizəl/, /ˈwizl̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːzəl
• Hyphenation: wea‧sel

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

• least weasel
• mountain weasel
• short-tailed weasel
• Siberian 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)

• Cimbrian: bròiballe n
• Czech: lasice f
• Danish: væsel c, brud (da) c
• Dutch: wezel (nl) f or m
• Esperanto: (♂) vizelo (eo), (♀) vizelino
• Estonian: nirk (et)
• Finnish: lumikko (fi)
• French: belette (fr) f, belette d'Europe (fr) f, belette pygmée (fr) f, petite belette (fr) f, fouine (fr) f
• Galician: denociña 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)
• Hindi: रासू m (rāsū)
• 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: mūstēla 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
• Thai: เพียงพอน (piiang-pɔɔn)
• Turkish: gelincik (tr)
• Ukrainian: ла́ска f (láska), ла́сиця f (lásycja)
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf
• Walloon: marcote (wa) f, bascolete (wa) f
• Welsh: gwenci f, bronwen f
• West Frisian: wezeling c

any mammal of the genus Mustela

• Belarusian: ла́ска f (láska)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鼬鼠 (zh) (yòushǔ)

• Esperanto: (♂♀) mustelo, (♂) virmustelo, (♀) mustelino, mustelo
• Finnish: kärppä (fi)
• German: Wiesel (de) n
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Indonesian: cerpelai (id)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: sermulis m, zebiekste

• Maori: wītara, wīhara, tori uaroa
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii
• Portuguese: doninha (pt) f
• Quechua: achuqalla (qu)
• Russian: ла́ска (ru) f (láska)
• Scottish Gaelic: neas f
• Ukrainian: ла́ска f (láska), ла́сиця f (lásycja)
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf
• West Frisian: marter c

any mammal of the family Mustelidae

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: (♂♀) musteledo (eo), (♂) virmusteledo, (♀) musteledino, mustelo
• Finnish: näätäeläin (fi)
• German: please add this translation if you can

• Irish: easóg f, cailín uasal m, beainín uasal f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: tori uaroa
• Spanish: comadreja (es) f
• Walloon: bascolidî (wa) m

yarn winder

• Greek: ανέμη (el) f (anémi)

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), ^{(please verify)} satandre
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} невесту́лка (bg) f (nevestúlka)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} mostela (ca) f
• Friulian: ^{(please verify)} bilite
• 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 (sh)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} lasica
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} podlasica (sl) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} comadreja (es) f, ^{(please verify)} mostela (es) f
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} vessla (sv)
• 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 (fi), 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

Further reading

• weasel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• weasel at OneLook Dictionary Search
• weasel in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• weales