See Also: weasel(medicine)
weasel(1)(dictionary)
weasel(2)(dictionary)
weasel(encyclopedia)
Pop Goes the Weasel(dictionary)
weasel 1, noun(dictionary)
weasel 2, verb(dictionary)
weasel word(dictionary)

weasel(1) (iou)



weasel noun & adjective.
[Old English wesule, wesle, weosule = Middle Low German wesel, wezel, Old High German wisula (German Wiesel), from West Germanic noun of unkn. origin.]
A. noun.
A small carnivorous mustelid mammal, Mustela nivalis, which has a slender brown and white body with a short tail, is noted for its ferocity, and is found in Eurasia and N. America; fig. a treacherous or deceitful person. Also colloq., a stoat. OE.
pop goes the weasel: see POP adverb.
b. With specifying word: any of several other carnivorous mammals (now chiefly those of the genus Mustela and related genera) that resemble M. nivalis. L18.
A native or inhabitant of S. Carolina. US colloq. M19.
A tracked vehicle capable of travelling over difficult terrain; spec. (a) US Military a light cargo and personnel carrier; (b) a snow tractor. M20.
An equivocal or ambiguous statement or claim, esp. one intended to mislead. M20.
Comb.: weasel-faced adjective having thin sharp features; weasel-lemur a small short-tailed lemur, Lepilemur mustelinus; weasel's snout a cornfield weed with two-lipped pink flowers, Misopates orontium, allied to the snapdragon; weasel word an equivocal or ambiguous word used intentionally to mislead; weasel-worded adjective equivocating, ambiguous.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Of a word, statement etc.: equivocating; intentionally ambiguous or misleading. E20.
R. M. Pirsig The whole business seemed..merely a new and pretentious jargon of weasel concepts.
weaselly adjective resembling or characteristic of a weasel; weasel-faced, thin, angular; equivocating, deceitful: M19.
weaselship noun (rare) (a) (with possess. adjective, as
his weaselship etc.) a mock title of respect given to a weasel; (b) the characteristic nature of a weasel: E18.