whetting someone's appetite

Verb

whet someone's appetite (third-person singular simple present whets someone's appetite, present participle whetting someone's appetite, simple past and past participle whetted someone's appetite or whet someone's appetite)

1. to increase or stimulate someone's desire, interest, or eagerness for something, often by providing a small preview or taste
   • [H]e had been able to demand a monthly rent worth fifty times the eight pounds he had previously received from El Shanqeety. This revelation had whet his appetite and he had informed the residents through Amm Sadeq his willingness to pay the same amount to anyone who was thinking of leaving their...2001, Sonallah Ibrahim, translated by Anthony Calderbank, chapter 17, in Zaat, Cairo; New York, N.Y.: The American University in Cairo Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 332