WHEEDLING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Wheedling

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verb

Wheedle v. t. (past & past part. wheedled; pres. part. wheedling)

To entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter; to coax. "The unlucky art of wheedling fools." "And wheedle a world that loves him not."

To grain, or get away, by flattery. "A deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedled out of her."

Wheedle v. i. To flatter; to coax; to cajole.

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Etymology of 'Wheedling'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Wheedling" Quotes from Famous Books

... on account of the drunkenness of the town. When it was past, by a vigorous indulgence in wheedling and threatening, we got the work again under way, and were just finishing with our one-hundredth man, when Padre Ponce returned for good and all. We had nearly starved during his absence; his old housekeeper had done her best with the poor materials which we were able to secure, but the best was ...

— In Indian Mexico (1908) • Frederick Starr

... Greaseabloom, by Ceppi's virgins, bright of their oils. Nannetti's father hawked those things about, wheedling at doors as I. Religion pays. Must see him for that par. Eat first. I want. Not yet. At four, she said. Time ever passing. Clockhands turning. On. Where eat? The Clarence, Dolphin. On. For Raoul. Eat. If I net five guineas with those ads. The violet silk petticoats. Not ...

— Ulysses • James Joyce

... chance, but the pedlar had a wheedling eye and a genteel demeanour, and Mary hesitated. She called the cook, a stout, middle-aged person, who came to the door to see what was up. The pedlar rapidly showed the best items of his collection, which ...

— Kathleen • Christopher Morley

... madam's wonder, Granny required no wheedling, but—apprised of the deliberation, by the little minx Prissy, who in Fiddy's illness attended on Granny—she sent for madam before madam even knew that the proposal had been so much as mooted to her, and struck her stick ...

— Girlhood and Womanhood - The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes • Sarah Tytler

... if they shake their quick pens, and fly off with a hiss, we resign their favors and put on all the fortitude we can muster. I would rather have the lowest man's good word than his bad one, to be sure; but as for coaxing a compliment, or wheedling him into good-humor, or stopping his angry mouth with a good dinner, or accepting his contributions for a certain Magazine, for fear of his barking or snapping elsewhere—allons donc! These shall not be our acts. Bow-wow, Cerberus! Here shall ...

— Roundabout Papers • William Makepeace Thackeray

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