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Weasel vs Beaver - What's the difference?

weasel | beaver |

As nouns the difference between weasel and beaver

is that weasel is the least weasel, Mustela nivalis while beaver is an aquatic rodent of the genus Castor, having a wide, flat tail and webbed feet.

As a verb weasel

is to achieve by clever or devious means.

As a proper noun Beaver is

{{surname|lang=en}.

weasel

English

Noun

(wikipedia weasel) (en noun)
  • The 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.
  • The taxonomic family Mustelidae is also called the weasel family.
  • A devious or sneaky person or animal.
  • 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.
  • Derived terms

    * short-tailed weasel * weaselly, weasely * weasel word

    Verb

  • To achieve by clever or devious means.
  • * 2010 (publication date), Tony Dajer, "Vital Signs", , 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.
  • *
  • *
  • To engage in clever or devious behavior.
  • *
  • Usage notes

    * and weaselled are more common in the UK.

    Derived terms

    * weasel one's way * weasel out

    See also

    * ferret * mink * polecat * stoat

    beaver

    English

    (wikipedia beaver) (Castor)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) bever, from (etyl) . Related to brown and bear.

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • An aquatic rodent of the genus Castor , having a wide, flat tail and webbed feet.
  • A hat, of various shape, made from a felted beaver fur (or later of silk), fashionable in Europe between 1550 and 1850.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (Prescott)
  • a brown beaver slouched over his eyes
  • (coarse, slang) The pubic hair and/or vulva of a woman.
  • The fur of the beaver.
  • Beaver cloth, a heavy felted woollen cloth, used chiefly for making overcoats.
  • Derived terms
    * American beaver * European beaver
    See also
    *

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The lower face-guard of a helmet.
  • *1600 , (Edward Fairfax), The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XII, lxvii:
  • *:With trembling hands her beaver he untied, / Which done, he saw, and seeing knew her face.
  • *1819 , (Walter Scott), (Ivanhoe) :
  • *:Without alighting from his horse, the conqueror called for a bowl of wine, and opening the beaver , or lower part of his helmet, announced that he quaffed it, “To all true English hearts, and to the confusion of foreign tyrants.”
  • *1974 , (Lawrence Durrell), , Faber & Faber 1992, p.128:
  • *:As each one brings a little of himself to what he sees you brought the trappings of your historic preoccupations, so that Monsieur flattered you by presenting himself with beaver up like Hamlet's father's ghost!
  • Etymology 3

    Alternative forms.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • References

    (Commons) *