wheedle

English

WOTD – 8 November 2008

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Possibly from Old English wædlian (“to beg”). Another possible source is German wedeln (“to wag”), from Old High German wedil, wadil, tail.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈʍiː.dəl/ (without the wine-whine merger)
• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈwiː.dəl/ (with the wine-whine merger)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

wheedle (third-person singular simple present wheedles, present participle wheedling, simple past and past participle wheedled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.
   • 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer (in modern translation), 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.

2. (transitive) To obtain by flattery, guile, or trickery.
   • Congreve

     A deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedled out of her.

Derived terms

• wheedling
• wheedlesome

Translations

cajole

• Czech: přemluvit pf, přesvěčit pf
• Finnish: lirkutella (fi)
• Russian: подли́зываться (ru) impf (podlízyvatʹsja), подлиза́ться (ru) pf (podlizátʹsja), обха́живать (ru) impf (obxáživatʹ), ублажа́ть (ru) impf (ublažátʹ), прельща́ть (ru) impf (prelʹščátʹ)

• Scots: tice
• Spanish: engatusar (es), camelar (es)

obtain by guile or trickery

• Czech: vymámit, vyloudit pf
• Italian: ottenere con lusinghe

• Russian: выма́нивать ле́стью impf (vymánivatʹ léstʹju), вы́манить ле́стью pf (výmanitʹ léstʹju)

Noun

wheedle (plural wheedles)

1. (archaic) A coaxing person.

Anagrams

• wheeled