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whet. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
whet, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
whet in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English whetten, from Old English hwettan (“to whet, sharpen, incite, encourage”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *hwatjaną (“to incite, sharpen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”).
Cognate with Dutch wetten (“to whet, sharpen”), German wetzen (“to whet, sharpen”), Icelandic hvetja (“to whet, encourage, catalyze”), dialectal Danish hvæde (“to whet”).
Pronunciation
Verb
whet (third-person singular simple present whets, present participle whetting, simple past and past participle whetted or whet)
- (transitive) To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, , London: Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, , published 1646, →OCLC, page 33:And the Mower whets his ſithe,
1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, ; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, , →OCLC, stanza XLII:Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak.
- (transitive) To stimulate or make more keen.
to whet one's appetite or one's courage
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, / I have not slept.
- 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xv:
- My faith in vegetarianism grew on me from day to day. Salt's book whetted my appetite for dietetic studies. I went in for all books available on vegetarianism and read them.
2003 October 9, Naomi Wolf, “The Porn Myth”, in New York Magazine:In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing.
- (transitive, obsolete) To preen.
Derived terms
Translations
hone or rub on with some substance for the purpose of sharpening
- Arabic: حَدَّدَ (ḥaddada), شَحَذَ (šaḥaḏa)
- Belarusian: тачы́ць impf (tačýcʹ)
- Bulgarian: точа (bg) (toča), остря (bg) (ostrja)
- Catalan: esmolar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 磨 (zh)
- Czech: brousit (cs) impf, nabrousit pf, ostřit impf, naostřit pf
- Dutch: wetten (nl), slijpen (nl), scherpen (nl)
- French: aiguiser (fr)
- German: wetzen (de)
- Hungarian: köszörül (hu)
- Irish: faobhraigh, géaraigh
- Italian: affilare (it)
- Lao: ລັບ (lo) (lap)
- Latin: acuō
- Luxembourgish: wetzen, schläifen, schäerfen
- Macedonian: точи (toči), остри (ostri)
- Maori: oroi
- Maranao: bagid
- Nuosu: ꍚ (zhur)
- Polish: ostrzyć (pl) impf, naostrzyć (pl) pf
- Portuguese: amolar (pt), afiar (pt)
- Romanian: ascuţi (ro)
- Russian: точи́ть (ru) (točítʹ), пра́вить (ru) (právitʹ)
- Sicilian: mmulari
- Slovak: brúsiť impf, nabrúsiť pf, ostriť impf, naostriť pf
- Spanish: afilar (es)
- Swedish: slipa (sv), skärpa (sv), fila (sv)
- Tamil: இடங்கம் (ta) (iṭaṅkam)
- Thai: ลับ (th) (láp)
- Ukrainian: точи́ти impf (točýty)
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stimulate or make more keen
Noun
whet (plural whets)
- The act of whetting something.
- That which whets or sharpens; especially, an appetizer.
1714 July 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, July 19, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 569; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, , volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
1769, Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper:To make a nice Whet before Dinner […]
1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:A really good game, to my mind, must have an element, however slight, of physical danger to the player. This is the great whet to skilled performance.
Derived terms
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
whet
- Alternative form of whete
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English whete, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī.
Pronunciation
Noun
whet
- wheat
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 78