wheedle

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“
"I would never wheedle--at any rate, I'd go straight He scarcely knew what he was saying.

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To persuade or attempt to persuade by flattery or guile; cajole.
  2. transitive verb To obtain through the use of flattery or guile: a swindler who wheedled my life savings out of me.
  3. intransitive verb To use flattery or cajolery to achieve one's ends.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • He was a man of too much good sense to wheedle or fool with, and notwithstanding my confidence in my good preparation, and his appreciation of it, I anticipated a terrible time with him. —  The Swamp Doctor's Adventures
  • She tried the wheedle, even the vamp, to no avail. I made her stick to my scheme. —  The Tartan Sell - Jonathan Gash - Lovejoy 10
  • "Did you think I put up with your constant harassment as you tried to wheedle the information out of me for my own good I do not wheedle," he said in a growl. —  Lynsay Sands - [Argeneau 09] - Vampire, Interrupted
  • It's no longer the coaches who appeal, wheedle, growl, grovel, or whatever it takes to raise a student's letter grade. —  EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL
  • Men who badger, wheedle or harange for sex have no pride. —  newmatilda.com - Comments
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

breaktime ·  talcum ·  buncombe ·  blandishment ·  introgression ·  mistis ·  dancehall ·  putdown ·  parrying ·  mope ·  blarney ·  snuffle

Used in the same contextWord Family

wheedle:   wheedled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly wheadle; perhaps for *weedle, from German wedeln, wag the tail, fan (hence fawn, flatter?), from wedel, a fan, tail, brush, Middle High German wedel (wadel), Old High German wedil (wadal), fan, winnowing-fan, literally instrument for blowing; with formative -del (-thlo-), from Old High German wehan, Middle High German G. wehen, blow: see wind. Similar uses occur with Danish logre, wag the tail, also fawn upon one; with Icelandic flathra, wag the tail, fawn upon; with Old French coueter, wag the tail, etc. It is not clear how a G. word of this kind could get into English; but the German wars of the 17th century brought in a number of words, and this may have been taken up as a slang termination Some refer wheedle to W. chwedlai, talk, gossip, from chwedl, a fable, story, discourse; but the resemblance is superficial.
  2. from wheedle, v.
 

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/ˈhwidl/
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