whet

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“
Oh, whet is the use of that?

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. transitive verb To sharpen (a knife, for example); hone.
  2. transitive verb To make more keen; stimulate: The frying bacon whetted my appetite.
  3. noun The act of whetting.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • The saw-whet was perched on the chimney, probably. —  F ;SF; - vol 102 issue 01 - January 2002
  • So if the science fiction buyer purchases five copies of the latest Nebula winning novel for each of his stores, the stores will receive those five copies -- whet her they have room for them or not. —  F ;SF; - vol 091 issue 03 - September 1996
  • Then he would put it on the stone again and whet, whet, whet, till I could have laughed aloud, it was so very ludicrous It was also serious, for I learned that he was capable of using it, that under all his cowardice there was a courage of cowardice, like mine, that would impel him to do the very thing his whole nature protested against doing and was afraid of doing. —  The Sea Wolf
  • Guaranteed to whet (or wet) your appetite for life's little pleasures. —  The annotated budak
  • "I will thy weapon whet, inflame thine ire, —  Jerusalem Delivered
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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

adium ·  komme ·  sollte ·  proofing ·  weiss ·  gleich ·  hoch ·  darf ·  lieber

Used in the same contextWord Family

whet:   whetted
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. Middle English whetten, from Old English hwettan.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English whetten, from Anglo-Saxon hwettan (= D. Low German wetten = Old High German wezzen, Middle High German G. wetzen = Icelandic hvetja = Swedish hvässa = Danish hvæsse), sharpen, whet, from hwæt, sharp: see what.
  2. from whet, v.
 

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/hwɛt/
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