# weasel

Pronunciation: say "WEE-zuhl" US /ˈwizəl/, UK /ˈwiːz(ə)l/

## Noun

1. A slender carnivorous mammal with a long body and tail, usually brown above and pale below, that preys on small animals.
   - Simple: A small, slim animal with short legs and brown fur that hunts mice and other small prey.
   - _A weasel slipped under the henhouse and was gone before the farmer could react._
   - _Weasels can chase rodents into burrows too narrow for most predators._
2. A devious or sneaky person, or an animal that behaves the same way. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A sneaky person who tricks others or escapes blame.
   - _He's a weasel who takes credit for others' work and dodges every bit of blame._
   - _The weasels in management threw the whole team under the bus._
6. A small mustelid, Mustela nivalis, the tiniest member of the weasel family.
   - Simple: The smallest kind in the weasel family, with a short tail and a brown coat.
   - _A weasel slipped through a gap no wider than a wedding ring, its body barely thicker than a thumb._
   - _Hardly longer than the vole it hunts, the weasel vanished into the grass._
7. Any of certain other species belonging to the family Mustelidae.
   - Simple: Any of several other small animals in the same family, such as stoats and polecats.
   - _The gamekeeper called the pine marten just a big weasel._
   - _A weasel slunk along the bank (likely a polecat, judging by its dark mask)._
8. A yarn winder for measuring the yardage of handspun yarn, with a peg that pops up after a set number of yards have been wound.
   - Simple: A tool for winding handspun yarn that also counts how many yards you wind.
   - _She fed the handspun yarn onto the weasel, listening for the peg to pop after each hundred yards._
   - _Every yard wound onto the weasel brought the hidden peg closer to springing up._

## Verb

3. To behave in a clever or devious way.
   - Simple: To act in a sneaky or tricky way, often to avoid something.
   - _Politicians weasel whenever they're asked a direct question._
   - _He weaseled out of the contract on a technicality._
4. To achieve something through clever or devious means.
   - Simple: To get something done by using sneaky tricks.
   - _She weaseled a promotion by taking credit for the team's results._
   - _Lobbyists weasel exemptions out of lawmakers every session._
5. To obtain something for oneself through cunning or underhanded means.
   - Simple: To get something for yourself by using sneaky tricks.
   - _She weaseled a corner office for herself before anyone else could ask._
   - _Somehow he manages to weasel free upgrades for himself on every flight._

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, going back to Proto-West Germanic *wisulā and Proto-Germanic *wisulǭ. The verb dates from around 1900 and reflects the supposed cunningness of the weasel.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/weasel (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).