Now rare. Forms: see the vb. [f. next.]
1. An act or instance of wheedling; a piece of insinuating flattery or cajolery; also gen. wheedling speech.
1668. Etheredge, She wou’d if she cou’d, I. i. Dost thou think to pass these gross Wheadles on me too?
1681. Hickeringill, Black Non-Conf., vii. Wks. 1716, II. 61. It looks like a Wheedle, or a Trepan, to drill a Man into a Court by Process in a feigned Suit.
1687. Sedley, Bellamira, IV. i. You have several times talked to me of a sister of mine, lost from our house in Devonshire; but I always look’d upon it as a meer wheedle.
a. 1708. T. Ward, Eng. Ref., II. (1710), 89. In Cant and Wheedle most Expert They were.
1755. Shebbeare, Lydia (1769), II. 284. She…, by a soft insinuating wheedle, took possession of the divine’s good opinion.
a. 1814. Word of Honor, III. i. in New Brit. Theatre, I. 368. I cannot stand this wheedle.
1861. Thackeray, Round. Papers, Ogres. So were the Sirens ogres—pretty blue-eyed things … singing their melodious wheedles.
† 2. A wheedler. Obs.
1673. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-Master, IV. i. Hipp. You saw I cou’d dissemble with my Father, Why shou’d think I cou’d not with you? Ger. So young a Wheadle?
1681. Otway, Soldier’s Fort., III. i. Dainty Wheadle, here’s a Fellow for ye.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Parasite, a Trencher Friend, a meer Wheedle. Ibid., Wheadle, a Sharper.
