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Weasel vs Weanel - What's the difference?

weasel | weanel |

As nouns the difference between weasel and weanel

is that weasel is the least weasel, mustela nivalis while weanel is (obsolete) a weanling.

As a verb weasel

is to achieve by clever or devious means.

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

    weanel

    English

    Alternative forms

    * wennel

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A weanling.
  • * 16thC , , The Shepherd?s Calendar: September'', 1862, George Gilfillan, Charles Cowden Clarke (editors), ''The Poetical Works Of Edmund Spenser , Volume 4, page 278,
    • A lamb, or a kid, or a weanel wast; / With that to the wood would he speed him fast.
  • * 1835 , Lord Huntingfield?s Important Agricultural Stock Sale'', ''The Farmer?s Magazine , Volume 3: July - December, page 358,
    • .
  • * 1978 , Essex Record Office, Elizabethan Life: Wills of Essex Gentry & Merchants , page 304,
    • To my daughter Grace and her daughter Grace each a silver spoon, also to her daughter Grace a weanel' to be let out by her parents to the best advantage to her use till she is 18. To my daughter Bridget and her daughter Elizabeth each a silver spoon, also to Bridget?s two children a ' weanel likewise.