# weasel
## English
### Alternative forms

* weazel (archaic)
* weazle (obsolete)

### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈwiːz(ə)l/
* (General American) enPR: wēʹzəl, wēzʹl, IPA: /ˈwizəl/, /ˈwizl̩/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːzəl
* Hyphenation: wea‧sel

### Noun

weasel (plural weasels)
* A least weasel (Mustela nivalis).
* Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genus Mustela, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
* Any of certain other species of the family Mustelidae.
* (informal, derogatory) A devious or sneaky person or animal.
** 2016 February 8, Marwan Bishara, “Why Obama fails the leadership test in the Middle East”, in Al Jazeera English‎: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.
* A type of yarn winder used for counting the yardage of handspun yarn. 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.

#### Synonyms

* (any of the carnivorous mammals of the genus Mustela): mustela

#### Derived terms

* African striped weasel (Poecilogale albinucha)
* Altai weasel (Mustela altaica)
* Amazon weasel (Neogale africana)
* back-striped weasel (Mustela strigidorsa)
* Bonaparte's weasel (Mustela erminea cicognanii, Mustela cicognanii)
* bridled weasel (Mustela frenata)
* Colombian weasel (Neogale felipei)
* common weasel (Mustela nivalis)
* dwarf weasel (Mustela nivalis)
* Egyptian weasel (Mustela nivalis subpalmata)
* honey weasel (Mellivora capensis)
* Japanese weasel (Mustela sibirica sibirica, Mustela itatsai)
* least weasel (Mustela nivalis)
* little weasel (Mustela nivalis)
* long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata)
* Malacca weasel (Viverricula malaccensis)
* Malay weasel, Malayan weasel (Mustela nudipes)
* mountain weasel (Mustela altaica)
* New York weasel (Mustela frenata noveboracensis)
* pale weasel (Mustela altaica)
* Patagonian weasel (Lyncodon patagonicus)
* pygmy weasel (Mustela nivalis)
* short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea, Mustela richardsonii)
* Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica)
* snake weasel (Poecilogale albinucha)
* stripe-backed weasel (Mustela strigidorsa)
* tiger weasel (Vormela spp.)
* Tonkin weasel (Mustela tonkinensis)
* vison weasel (Neogale vison)
* white weasel (Mustela erminea)
* yellow weasel (Mustela sibirica)
* yellow-bellied weasel (Mustela kathiah)
* chalk-eating weasel
* honey weasel
* weasel clause
* weasel war dance
* weasel-faced
* weasel-like
* IceWeasel
* weasel cat (Pronodon spp.; Poiana richardsoni)
* weasel coot, weasel duck
* weasel-headed armadillo (Euphractus spp.)
* weasel lemur (Lepilemur mustelinus)
* weaselly, weasely
* weasel spider (Solpugidae spp.)
* weasel word
* wild weasel

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

weasel (third-person singular simple present weasels, present participle weaseling or weaselling, simple past and past participle weaseled or weaselled)
* (transitive) To achieve by clever or devious means.
** 2010 (publication date), Tony Dajer, "Vital Signs", Discover, ISSN 0274-7529, volume 32, number 1, January–February 2011, page 10:
    Prisoners are notorious for weaseling day passes to get out of lockup […] .
* (transitive or reflexive) To gain something for oneself by clever or devious means.
** 2006, Tony Ruggiero, Alien Deception‎:He's weaseled himself into a position where he can influence the outcome of this election.
** 2010, Susie Davis, Uncovered: Revealing the Secrets of a Sexy Marriage‎, page 147:Within just a couple of days, she [a dog] had weaseled her way into our hearts.
* (intransitive) To engage in clever or devious behavior.
** 1996, Stefan Bechtel, Larry Stains, Sex: A Man's Guide‎, page 151:Authority figures have a history of weaseling on this topic.

#### Usage notes

* Weaseling and weaseled are more common in the US. Weaselling and weaselled are more common in the UK.

#### Related terms

* weasel into
* weasel one's way
* weasel out

#### Translations
### See also

* ferret
* mink
* polecat
* stoat

### References

* “weasel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “weasel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Further reading

* weasel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* weales