weasel
part of speech
noun (a weasel, weasels); verb (weasel, weasels, weaselled/weaseled, weaselling/weaseling)
meaning for a pupil
1) A weasel is a small, thin, fast wild animal with brown fur and a long body that hunts mice and voles. tree →
2) (informal, rude) A weasel is a sneaky person who cannot be trusted. tree →
3) To weasel out of something (informal) is to avoid doing it in a sneaky way. tree →
4) Weasel words are vague words used to avoid saying something clearly. tree →
sense in the lessons
In nature studies it is a small hunter of the British countryside. In stories, weasels are often sly villains (as in "The Wind in the Willows"). In English lessons, "weasel words" are a trick in adverts and speeches. Phrases: weasel out of, weasel words, sly as a weasel.
examples
- A weasel slipped into the hole after a mouse. tree →
- Don't trust him — he's a real weasel. tree →
- He tried to weasel out of washing up. tree →
- "Up to 50% off" uses weasel words. tree →
- The weasels took over Toad Hall in the story. tree →
- Weasels are the smallest meat-eating mammals in Britain. tree →
- Just then a Weasel came by. tree →
note
Countable. UK spelling weaselled, US weaseled. Calling a person a weasel is an insult. Pop Goes the Weasel is a nursery rhyme. Stoats look similar but are bigger with a black tail tip.
In the corpora
- Almost everyone wants to eat a mouse: cats, owls, foxes, weasels, snakes and hawks.
- The book's animals are characters in a story; real weasels and foxes are not wicked, they just hunt to eat.
- The Stoats and Weasels have taken Toad Hall!
- At last, right above their heads, they hear cheering, stamping and glasses clinking — the weasels' party.
- Through the door they hear the Chief Weasel making a speech about «our kind host, Mr.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «weasel» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.