wheedle

WOTD – 8 November 2008

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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.
To obtain something by guile or trickery.