wheedle
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
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.
- 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.
- 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer (in modern translation), The Canterbury Tales ("The Wife of Bath's Tale"), Penguin Classics, p. 290:
- 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.
- Congreve
Translations[edit]
cajole
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obtain by guile or trickery
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