weanel

English

Alternative forms

• wennel

Noun

weanel (plural weanels)

1. (obsolete) A weanling.
   • 16thC, Edmund Spenser, The Shepherd′s Calendar: September, 1862, George Gilfillan, Charles Cowden Clarke (editors), The Poetical Works Of Edmund Spenser, Volume 4, page 278,

     A lamb, or a kid, or a weanel wast; / With that to the wood would he speed him fast.

   • 1835, Lord Huntingfield′s Important Agricultural Stock Sale, The Farmer′s Magazine, Volume 3: July - December, page 358,

     […] the weanel calves for stock sold at from 12l to 20l 5s per pair […] .

   • 1978, Essex Record Office, Elizabethan Life: Wills of Essex Gentry & Merchants, page 304:

     To my daughter Grace and her daughter Grace each a silver spoon, also to her daughter Grace a weanel to be let out by her parents to the best advantage to her use till she is 18. To my daughter Bridget and her daughter Elizabeth each a silver spoon, also to Bridget′s two children a weanel likewise.