Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Weasel |
WeaselNoun1. Small carnivorous mammal with short legs and elongated body and neck. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "weasel" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Weasel n. [Cambridge] A naive user, one who deliberately or accidentally does things that are stupid or ill-advised. Roughly synonymous with loser. Source: Jargon File. |
Bible | Weasel (Heb. holedh), enumerated among unclean animals (Lev. 11:29). Some think that this Hebrew word rather denotes the mole (Spalax typhlus) common in Palestine. There is no sufficient reason, however, to depart from the usual translation. The weasel tribe are common also in Palestine. Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | To see a weasel bent on a marauding expedition in your dreams, warns you to beware of the friendships of former enemies, as they will devour you at an unseemly time. If you destroy them, you will succeed in foiling deep schemes laid for your defeat. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Weasel Weasels suck eggs. Hence Shakespeare- "The weazel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks the princoly egg." Henry V., i. 2. "I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weazel sucks eggs."- As You Like It, ii. 5. To catch a weasel asleep. To expect to find a very vigilant person nodding, off his guard; to suppose that one who has his weather-eye open cannot see what is passing before him. The French say, Croir avoir trouvé la pie au nid (To expect to find the pie on its nest). The vigilant habits of these animals explain the allusions. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Weasel Longtail weasel Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Mustelidae Genus: Mustela Species: frenata Binomial name Mustela frenata The weasel is a small mammal of the family Mustelidae. Approximately between 7 and 15 inches, or 15 and 35 centimetres, in length, the weasel generally has a light brown upper coat and a white belly.
They are predatory, usually on small mammals, and in former times were considered vermin since some species took rabbits from commercial warrens.
see also: stoat
Weasel is also a character from the Mickey Mouse universe, who serves as Black Pete's lackey and they often antagonize Mickey and his friends.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Weasel."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Activity | Phrase: carpe diem; (opportunity); nulla dies sine linea; nec mora nec requies; the plot thickens; No sooner said than done; (early); "veni vidi vici"; catch a weasel asleep; abends wird der Faule fleissig; dictum ac factum; schwere Arbeit in der Jugend ist sanfte Ruhe im Alter; "the busy hum of men ". |
Impossibility | Attempt impossibilities; square the circle, wash a blackamoor white; skin a flint; make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, make bricks without straw; have nothing to go upon; weave a rope of sand, build castles in the air, prendre la lune avec les dents, extract sunbeams from cucumbers, set the Thames on fire, milk a he-goat into a sieve, catch a weasel asleep, rompre l'anguille au genou, be in two places at once. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Weasel |
| English words defined with "weasel": Foin, fur ♦ Galictis vittatus, grison, Grison vittatus ♦ longtail weasel, long-tailed weasel ♦ muishond, Mustela frenata ♦ Paguma, Pine marten ♦ Rasse, River shrew ♦ Saltant ♦ Vare, Vare widgeon ♦ Weasel coot, Weasel-faced, Weesel, Weezel, Whittret. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "weasel": Arrot ♦ DAU. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "weasel": Petrogale. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It's what separates us from the animals except the weasel. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) The only mistake I ever made was to appoint a sniveling little weasel like you Secretary of Defense (Independence Day; writing credit: Dean Devlin; Roland Emmerich) I am nobody's little weasel. (Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le; writing credit: Guillaume Laurant; Jean-Pierre Jeunet) Pop goes the weasel! (Dragonball Z; writing credit: Katsuyuki Sumizawa) Tiffany's! And all I could think about was if this wimp ever saw a monster he'd probably throw a shoe at it and run like a weasel. Turns out the shoe part was giving him too much credit (Angel; writing credit: Letícia Dornelles) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Weasel While You Work (1958) Poop Goes the Weasel (1955) Plop Goes the Weasel (1953) Flop Goes the Weasel (1943) The Sneezing Weasel (1938) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Digging out a weasel - not a fun job when it's 40 degrees below zero. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |  | Weasel traveling over frozen lake during spring melt period. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
 | A weasel making its way across a lagoon at Point Lay. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |  | View of a weasel from the top of a pressure ridge out on the Beaufort Sea. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
 | Increasing expanses of melted snow and ice during the spring melt Weasel checking sea ice landing strip at Oliktok Point - If weasel didn't break ice, ski planes could land. If weasels broke ice, they would float as they were amphibious. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |  | Weasel at observing tent. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
 | Loading a weasel on "Goldie". Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |  | F-16CJ "Wild Weasel". |
 | F-16 "Wild Weasel". |  | F-16 Wild Weasel. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | A dust settled on the floors, and only mouse and weasel and cat tracks disturbed it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | Even when Tony Snow came at Edwards with the fact that Al Gore's brother-in-law favors Judge Pickering, Edwards managed to weasel free. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Weasel" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 63.22% of the time. "Weasel" is used about 87 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 63.22% | 55 | 45,713 |
| Noun (proper) | 33.33% | 29 | 64,444 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 2.3% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.15% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 87 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "weasel" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Weasel | Last name | 130 | 66,574 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "weasel": catch a weasel asleep ♦ Honey weasel ♦ longtail weasel ♦ Malacca weasel ♦ new World least weasel ♦ old World least weasel ♦ shorttail weasel ♦ weasel coot ♦ weasel duck ♦ weasel lemur ♦ weasel word ♦ weasel words ♦ wild weasel. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "weasel": weasel-eyed, weasel-faced, weasel-like, weasel-pack, weasel-skins, weasel-worded, weasel-writing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
wicked weasel | 5,539 | weasel card | 29 |
weasel | 716 | bikini micro weasel wicked | 25 |
bikini weasel wicked | 480 | model weasel wicked | 20 |
deck of weasel | 179 | axis of weasel | 19 |
screeching weasel | 141 | fan weasel wicked | 19 |
pic weasel wicked | 141 | fisher weasel | 19 |
garden weasel | 110 | long tailed weasel | 18 |
weasel picture | 85 | bikini pic weasel wicked | 18 |
bikini weasel | 82 | animal weasel | 17 |
girl weasel wicked | 77 | goes lyrics pop weasel | 16 |
pop goes the weasel | 74 | weasel family | 15 |
bikini picture weasel wicked | 72 | bikini weasel wild | 15 |
photo weasel wicked | 71 | bikini dare weasel wicked | 15 |
circus weasel | 67 | archive weasel wicked | 15 |
weasel.com wicked | 64 | card deck weasel | 15 |
wild weasel | 54 | relative weasel | 14 |
wicked weasel swim wear | 53 | weaked weasel | 14 |
picture weasel wicked | 52 | swimsuit weasel wicked | 14 |
lyrics screeching weasel | 47 | circus.com weasel | 14 |
gallery weasel wicked | 40 | swim wear weasel | 14 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "weasel"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | wesel (marter). (various references) | |
Albanian | nuselalë, bukël (coil of hair, Crimp, curl, lock, wisp). (various references) | |
Arabic | ابن عرس, راوغ (dodge, elude, equivocate, fudge, palter, prevaricate, quibble, rip off, squirm), شخص مراوغ. (various references) | |
Blackfoot | áápaiai. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | увъртам (hedge), говоря уклончиво, говоря двусмислено (equivocate), невестулка, лукав човек (serpent), измъквам се (escape, fink, get out of, hike, recede, ride up, skin away, skip, skulk off, slip off, slope, steal away, steal out, unthread, work off). (various references) | |
Chinese | 鼪 (stoat), 黃 狼 , 狡猾的人. (various references) | |
Czech | lasièka (stoat). (various references) | |
Danish | væsel. (various references) | |
Dutch | wezel (marter), marter (marten, marter). (various references) | |
Esperanto | mustelo (marten, marter). (various references) | |
Faeroese | márur (marter). (various references) | |
Farsi | جانوران پستاندارشبیه راسو, راسو, شانه خالی کردن (Quail), دروغ گفتن (Belie, Equivocate, Gab, Prevaricate, Whiff). (various references) | |
Finnish | lumikko. (various references) | |
French | belette. (various references) | |
Frisian | wezeling (marter). (various references) | |
German | Wiesel (stoat, weasels). (various references) | |
Greek | ικτίσ (ferret, mink, stoat), νυφίτσα (ferret, martial, mink). (various references) | |
Hungarian | menyét (stoat). (various references) | |
Indonesian | cerpelai (mongoose). (various references) | |
Italian | donnola. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 鼬 (ermine, mink, skunk). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | いたち (ermine, mink, skunk). (various references) | |
Manx | assag [f] (pert girl, pert woman, stoat), assag (pert girl, pert woman, stoat). (various references) | |
Maya | saabin. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | easelway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | fuinha, doninha (fitchew, foumart). (various references) | |
Romanian | nevãstuicã. (various references) | |
Russian | уклоняться ласка;проныра, ласка (caress, endearment, ndearment, tenderness). (various references) | |
Sepedi | kgano. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | licemer (hypocrite, pecksniff), lasica, dvoličnjak. (various references) | |
Spanish | comadreja. (various references) | |
Swedish | vessla (ferret, marter, stoat). (various references) | |
Turkish | sinsi kimse (insidious person, skulker, sneak), sansar (marten, polecat), samur (sable), paletli kar arabası, kurnaz (arch, artful, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, cattish, catty, coon, crafty, cunning, cute, designing, dodger, dodgy, downy, feline, Fox, foxy, hard boiled, heady, knowing, leery, politic, quirky, roguish, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, sly old fox, slyboots, smart, subtile, tricky, vulpine, wheeler dealer, wide awake, wily, wise guy), gelincik (corn poppy, corn rose, poppy, stoat). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ухилятися (avoid, back out, balk, blench, crawfish, depart, digress, dodge, elude, equivocate, eschew, evade, flunk, jink, obviate, prevaricate, shirk, shuffle, sidestep, squirm, weave, wriggle), горностай (stoat), виляти (by pass, pussyfoot, wag), ласка (affection, caress, endearment, fondling, odor, odour, tenderness), підглядач, пройда, проноза (wriggler), доносити (delate, inform, inform against, peach, pimp on, round on, snitch, waft), донощик (appellant, beefer, checker, delator, denunciator, informant, informer, nose, noser, snitch, telltale). (various references) | |
Welsh | gwenci (stoat), bronwen. (various references) | |
Yucatec | saabin (marter). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | ictis, mustela, Mustela nivalis, RM:mustaila cumina. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Leviticus Chapter 11, Verse 29 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai tauta umin akaqarta apo twn erpetwn twn erpontwn epi thV ghV h galh kai o muV kai o krokodeiloV o cersaioV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Hoc quoque inter polluta reputabitur de his quae moventur in terra mustela et mus et corcodillus singula iuxta genus suum |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Thes forsothe among polutid thinges shulen be holde, of hem that ben meued in erthe; a wesil, and a mouse, and a cokedril, eche after his kynde; `that is a beest of foure feete, hauynge the nether cheke lap vnmeuable, and meuynge the ouere; |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And these are also unclene to you amonge the thinges that crepe apon the erth: the wesell the mouse, the tode and all his kynde, |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping animals that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise, after its kind, |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And these are unclean to you among things which go low down on the earth; the weasel and the mouse and the great lizard, and animals of that sort; |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Leviticus Chapter 11, Verse 29 |
| Cebuano | Ug kini sila mao ang mga mahugaw alang kaninyo sa taliwala sa mga mananap nga nagakamang sa yuta nga mokamang sa ibabaw sa yuta: ang milo, ug ang ilaga ug ang halo ingon sa ilang matang, |
| Croatian | "Od životinja što po zemlji gmižu neka su za vas ove neèiste: krtica, miš i svaka vrsta guštera; |
| Danish | Af Krybet, der kryber på Jorden, skal følgende være eder urene: Væselen, Musen, de forskellige Arter af Firben, |
| Dutch | Verder zal u dit onder het kruipend gedierte, dat op de aarde kruipt, onrein zijn: het wezeltje, en de muis, en de schildpad, naar haar aard; |
| Finnish | Ja nämä olkoot teille saastaiset niistä pikkueläimistä, jotka liikkuvat maassa: myyrä, hiiri ja sisiliskolajit, |
| French | Voici, parmi les animaux qui rampent sur la terre, ceux que vous regarderez comme impurs: la taupe, la souris et le lézard, selon leurs espèces; |
| German | Diese sollen euch auch unrein sein unter den Tieren, die auf Erden kriechen: das Wiesel, die Maus, die Kröte, ein jegliches mit seiner Art, |
| Haitian Creole | Pami tout bèt toupatou sou latè ki mache sou vant, men sa ki pa bon pou nou manje: tout kalite zagoudi, sourit ak leza, |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Tikus tanah, tikus besar, tikus kecil, kadal, segala jenis katak, landak, biawak, bengkarung, siput dan bunglon adalah haram. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Dan lagi di antara segala binatang kecil yang melata di atas bumi itu, haram kepadamu inilah: binturung dan tikus dan cecak sejenis-jenisnya; |
| Italian | Fra gli animali che strisciano per terra riterrete immondi: la talpa, il topo e ogni specie di sauri, |
| Maori | Ka poke ano hoki enei ki a koutou o nga mea ngokingoki katoa e ngokingoki ana i runga i te whenua; ko te wihara, ko te kiore, me te tuatara, me nga mea e rite ana ki a ia, |
| Norwegian | Og blandt de smådyr som kryper på jorden, skal disse være de ureneste for eder: muldvarpen og musen og alle slags firben, |
| Portuguese | Estes também vos serão por imundos entre os animais que se arrastam sobre a terra: a doninha, o rato, o crocodilo da terra segundo a sua espécie, |
| Rumanian | Iatq, din vietqyile cari se tkrqsc pe pqmknt, cele pe cari le veyi privi ca necurate: ckrtiya, woarecele wi wopkrla, dupq soiurile lor; |
| Russian | чПФ ЮФП ОЕЮЙУФП "МС ЧБУ ЙЪ ЦЙЧПФОЩИ, ТЕУНЩЛБАЭЙИУС П ЪЕНМЕ: ЛТПФ, НЩЫШ, СЭЕТЙ"Б У ЕЕ ПТП"ПА, |
| Swedish | Och bland de smådjur som röra sig på jorden skola dessa gälla för eder såsom orena: vesslan, jordråttan, ödlan med dess arter, |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "weasel": weaseled, weaseling, weaselled, weaselling, weaselly, weasels, weasely. (additional references) | |
| |
"Weasel" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dweezil, Feisel, measel, veasel, waesel, waesle, weaqe, wearel, weasal, wease, weaselly, weasely, weases, weasle, weasled, weason, weaste, weavel, weaze, weazel, weazer, weazle, wecsel, Weigela, weise, Weksler, wesal, wessel, whease, wiesel, Wiksell, Wilsill. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "weasel" (pronounced wē"zul) |
| 4 | -ē" z u l | easel. |
| 3 | -z u l | appraisal, arousal, Basil, causal, chisel, counterproposal, damsel, dazzle, disposal, drizzle, embezzle, fizzle, frazzle, grizzle, guzzle, Hazel, spousal, menopausal, muzzle, nasal, nozzle, nuzzle, perusal, pretzel, proposal, puzzle, reappraisal, recusal, refusal, reprisal, sizzle, Wurzel. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-l-s-w" | |
-1 letter: easel, lease, swale, wales, weals. | |
-2 letters: alee, ales, awee, awes, awls, ease, eels, else, ewes, lase, laws, leas, lees, sale, seal, seel, slaw, slew, waes, wale, weal, weel, wees. | |
-3 letters: ale, als, awe, awl, eel, els, ewe, las, law, lea, lee, sae, sal, saw, sea, see, sel, sew, wae, was, wee. | |
-4 letters: ae, al. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-e-l-s-w" | |
+1 letter: aweless, leeways, sewable, weasels, weasely. | |
+2 letters: alewives, eschewal, leewards, palewise, renewals, wageless, wakeless, walleyes, waveless, wavelets, weaseled, weaselly, weigelas, welfares. | |
+3 letters: awesomely, bewailers, eschewals, farewells, hawsehole, kalewives, leadscrew, leastwise, lowercase, reviewals, sleepwalk, sleepwear, swellhead, treelawns, waterless, weakliest, wearables, weariless, weaseling, weaselled, weigelias, wellheads, wheelbase, wheelsman, wholesale. | |
+4 letters: answerable, cartwheels, delftwares, flowerages, gearwheels, handwheels, hawseholes, leadscrews, limewaters, lowercased, lowercases, lusterware, meanwhiles, meltwaters, metalwares, newsdealer, saleswomen, silverware, sleepwalks, swellheads, tablewares, waterleafs, waterlines, wavelessly, weakliness, wealthiest, weaponless, weaselling, whalebones, wheelbases, wholesaled, wholesaler, wholesales. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Spoken | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
