weasel
Syllables: wea·selUK/ˈwiːz(ə)l//ˈwizəl/
weasel noun: any of the carnivorous mammals of the genera Mustela, Neogale, Poecilogale, and Lyncodon, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
Noun
weasel (plural weasels)
- Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genera Mustela, Neogale, Poecilogale, and Lyncodon, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
- An old traditional prescription for provoking erotic inclinations ran as follows, The toe of the foot of a man, anointed with oil, or honey, or the ashes of a weasel.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 234
- Synonyms:
- mustela
- A least weasel (Mustela nivalis).
- Any of certain other species of the family Mustelidae.
- A devious or sneaky person or animal.
- Once you've gone beyond the scripted speeches, soundbites and cliches, you'll notice how the debate about leadership is primarily divided between the three governors and two senators, the other two weasels, Donald Trump and Ben Carson notwithstanding.2016 February 8, Marwan Bishara, “Why Obama fails the leadership test in the Middle East”, in Al Jazeera English
- A type of yarn winder used for counting the yardage of handspun yarn; spinner's weasel. It most commonly has a wooden peg or dowel that pops up from the gearing mechanism after a certain number of yards have been wound onto the winder.
Verb
weasel (third-person singular simple present weasels, present participle (US) weaseling or (UK) weaselling, simple past and past participle (US) weaseled or (UK) weaselled)
- To achieve by clever or devious means.
- Prisoners are notorious for weaseling day passes to get out of lockup […] .2010 (publication date), Tony Dajer, "Vital Signs", Discover, ISSN 0274-7529, volume 32, number 1, January–February 2011, page 10
- To gain something for oneself by clever or devious means.
- He's weaseled himself into a position where he can influence the outcome of this election.2006, Tony Ruggiero, Alien Deception
- Within just a couple of days, she [a dog] had weaseled her way into our hearts.2010, Susie Davis, Uncovered: Revealing the Secrets of a Sexy Marriage, page 147
- To engage in clever or devious behavior.
- Authority figures have a history of weaseling on this topic.1996, Stefan Bechtel, Larry Stains, Sex: A Man's Guide, page 151
weasel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
weasel in Hindi
- least weasel, Mustela nivalis
- रासू rāsū
weasel in Tamil
- மரநாய் வகை, வஞ்சகன், ஒற்றன், எட்டப்பன், காட்டிக் கொடுப்பவன், கடமைகளில் இருந்து நழுவு
weasel in Urdu
- مکار آدمی, نیولا, دھوکا باز ہونا
weasel in Malayalam
- ഒരിനം കീരി, മരപ്പട്ടി
More languagesFewer languages
- weasel in Gujarati
- વીઝેલ, વીઝલ
- weasel in Odia
- ୱିଜେଲ୍, ୱେଜେଲ
- weasel in Tagalog
- mustela
- weasel in Arabic
- اِبْن عِرْس ibn ʕirs, عِرْسَة ʕirsa
- weasel in Malay
- wesel
- weasel in Indonesian
- cerpelai
- weasel in Persian
- راسو râsu
- weasel in Thai
- เพียงพอน piiang-pɔɔn
Examples of weasel in a sentence
- Who's going to look out for the little man as insurers increasingly weasel out of paying claims?
- He carefully hedged his statements with weasel words.
- When you start to feel unmotivated, you will look for ways to weasel out of your commitments.
Synonyms of weasel
Forms of weasel
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | weasels |
| alternative form | weazel |
| alternative form | weazle |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | weasels |
| present participle US | weaseling |
| present participle UK | weaselling |
| past participle US | weaseled |
| past US | weaseled |
| past participle UK | weaselled |
| past UK | weaselled |
Origin of weasel
From Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, from Proto-West Germanic *wisulā, from Proto-Germanic *wisulǭ. The verb is from c. 1900, from the supposed cunningness of the weasel.
Words formed from weasel
- African striped weasel
- Altai weasel
- Amazon weasel
- back-striped weasel
- Bonaparte's weasel
- bridled weasel
- Colombian weasel
- common weasel
- dwarf weasel
- Egyptian weasel
- honey weasel
- Japanese weasel
- least weasel
- little weasel
- long-tailed weasel
- Malacca weasel
- Malay weasel
- Malayan weasel
- mountain weasel
- New York weasel
- pale weasel
- Patagonian weasel
- pygmy weasel
- short-tailed weasel
- Siberian weasel
- snake weasel
- stripe-backed weasel
- tiger weasel
- Tonkin weasel
- vison weasel
- white weasel
- yellow weasel
- yellow-bellied weasel
- chalk-eating weasel
- weasel cat
- weasel clause
- weasel coot
- weasel duck
- weasel-faced
- weasel-headed armadillo
- weasel lemur
- weasel-like
- weaselly
- weasely
- weasel spider
- weasel war dance
- weasel word
- cuntweasel
- weaseler
- weaselese
- weaselfish
- weaselish
- weasellike
- weaselskin
- wild weasel
Phrases with weasel
Words that rhyme with weasel
Questions about weasel
- What does weasel mean?
- Weasel means any of the carnivorous mammals of the genera Mustela, Neogale, Poecilogale, and Lyncodon, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
- What is weasel in Hindi?
- Weasel in Hindi is रासू (rāsū). See Weasel meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is weasel?
- Weasel can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce weasel?
- Weasel is pronounced /ˈwiːz(ə)l/ (UK).
- What is the plural of weasel?
- The plural of weasel is weasels.
Words near weasel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: weasel (page history and authors); weasel (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); weasel (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); weasel (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); weasel (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); weasel (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-weasel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “weasel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/weasel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.