Forms: 1 uueosule, uuesulae, wesle, 4 wesill, 4–5 wesel(e, 4–6 wesell, -il, 5 wesyl(le, wees-, wessylle, weysyl, wezel, whesille, Sc. quhasill, 6 wesyll, weysell, 6–7 weazell, -ill, weesell, we(e)sill, 6–9 weesel, 7 weasell, -il, weassel, weesle, we(e)zill, weezle, wheezle, Sc. waesel, 7–8 weezel, Sc. whessell, 8–9 weasle, 9 dial. wizzel, 7– weasel. [OE. wesule, wesle wk. fem. = NFris. wisel (WFris. wezel-, weezling), (M)Du. wezel, OHG. wisula, -ala (MHG. wisele, wisel, mod.G. wiesel fem.):—OTeut. *wisulōn-, of obscure origin.
From German dialects come the Icel. (hreysi)vísla, ‘(cairn-) weasel,’ Sw. vesla, vessla, Da. væsel.]
1. A carnivorous animal (Putorius nivalis), the smallest European species of the genus (of the order Mustelidæ) which includes the polecat, stoat, etc. It is remarkable for its slender body, and for its ferocity and bloodthirstiness.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., M 337. Mustela, uueosule.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., vi. (Z.), 19. Mustela, wesle.
11[?]. Conf. Ecgbert, xxxix. in Thorpe, Ags. Laws, II. 164. Ʒif on hwylcne mycelne wætan mus oððe wesle onbefealle … sprenge mid haliʓ wætere.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 166. Ceste belette, a wesele.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xc. 13. Þe wesill ouercumys him [sc. the basilisk] & slas him.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxxiv. (1495), 829. The wesell hathe a red and a whyte wombe and chaungeth colour.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 540. The wesil shal for this doon hem noon harm.
c. 1480. Henryson, Mor. Fab., v. (Parl. Beasts), xvii. The quhirand quhitret with the quhasill went.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 156 b. I would … counsell you to destroy your Rattes and Mise with … Weesels.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 272. If thou be [be]witched with eyes, weare the eie of a wesill in a ring, which is an enchauntment against such charmes.
1606. N. B[axter], Sydney’s Ourania, G 1. The Pole-catte, and wilde-catte, the Weezle, & Stoate.
1624. Capt. J. Smith, Virginia, II. 35. Of Weesels and other Vermines skins a good many.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., I. 97/2. Pole-cats, Weezels,… or the like Vermin.
1832. L. Hunt, Sir R. Esher (1850), 336. Staring like a weasel.
1844. Jesse, Scenes Country Life, 357. Keepers have informed me that Weazles will sometimes kill and feed on Snakes.
1883. Simmonds, Dict. Useful Anim., s.v., The long-tailed weasel (Mustela longicauda).
1919. H. J. Massinghan, in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 183. I came across a bloodthirsty weasel, dragging a large buck rabbit after it.
transf. and fig. 1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 170. For once the Eagle (England) Leing in prey, To her vnguarded Nest, the Weazell (Scot) Comes sneaking, and so sucks her Princely Egges.
1631. Chapman & Shirley, Ball, I. (1639), A 4. Co. Dee not know him, tis the Court dancing Weesill. Ma. A Dancer, and so gay.
1633. B. Jonson, Tale Tub, I. vi. Wherefore did I, Sir, bid him Be call’d, you Weazell, Vermin of a Huisher?
1638. Ford, Fancies, II. ii. Whoreson, lecherous weazle!
1790. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Advice to Future Laureat, II. 39. Brudenell, thou stinkest! weasel, polecat, fly!
1886. P. Robinson, Teetotum Trees, 39. A thin little weasel of a Bengalee Baboo.
b. In proverbial sayings. † To be bit by a barn weasel: to be drunk.
1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 171. He is bit by a barn Weesel.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 269. ‘On with your story, will you; and if you are caught another time—’ ‘Caught! me!—… catch a weasel asleep!’
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxiii. I’m … as sharp as a ferret, and as cunning as a weazel.
¶ c. Erroneously spoken of as a corn-eating animal.
c. 1600. Distr. Emperor, III. i. in Bullen, Old Pl. (1884), III. 208. True, daughter; love is like the weassel that went into the meale-chamber;… it growes plumpe and full of humor; it asks a crannye as bygg as a conye borrowe to gett out agayne.
a. 1744. Pope, Imit. Hor., Ep. I. vii. 51. A Weasel once made shift to slink In at a Corn-loft thro’ a Chink.
[Hence 1755. Johnson, Weasel, a small animal that eats corn and kills mice.]
d. In some parts of England and Ireland confused with the STOAT, which is sometimes called ermine weasel or (when wearing its winter coat) white weasel.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 726. The white Weasel is called Minever.
1676. Cotton, Angler, II. viii. 75. A Flie called the Owl-Flie; the dubbing of a white Weesel’s tail.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., III. 358. This animal [sc. the ermine] is sometimes found white in Great Britain, and is then called a white weasel.
1891. Fishing Gaz., 3 Jan., 7/2. The stoat, or ermine weasel (Mustela erminea) … in many parts of England is called a weasel.
1916. Field, 22 April, 661/3. The stoat … in many parts [of Ireland] is known as ‘weasel.’
2. Applied with qualifying words to various animals belonging to the family Mustelidæ, or having some marked resemblance to the weasel, as fisher w. (see FISHER 2 b); four-toed w. = SURICATE; Malacca w. = RASSE; Mexican w. = KINKAJOU; water-w. (see WATER sb. 30).
1771. Pennant, Syr. Quadr., 228. Four-toed Weesel. Ibid. (1781), Hist. Quadr., II. 328. Fisher Weesel. Ibid., 338. Mexican Weesel.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. II. 406. Malacca Weesel.
† 3. [transl. L. mustela (marina).] A fish, taken to be the lamprey. (Cf. weasel-fish, -ling in 6 b, and Fr. belette.) Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXII. ix. II. 445. The liver also of the fish named the Sea-cat or Weazill, is given in like case.
† 4. The SMEW. Cf. weasel coot, duck in 6 b.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Norf. Birds, Wks. 1835, IV. 317. The … mustela variegata,… the variegated or party-coloured weasel, so called from the resemblance it beareth unto a weasel in the head.
5. U.S. A nickname for a native of S. Carolina.
1845. The Sun (Baltimore, MD), 10 June, 1/5. The inhabitants of … South Carolina, [are called] Weasels.
1875. Chamb. Jrnl., 13 March, 171/2. South Carolina is Palmetto State, and the natives are Weasels.
6. attrib. and Comb., as weasel family, kind, tribe (designations for the order Mustelidæ); weasel-colour, -run, -skin, -whelp; similative, as weasel- † becked (= beaked), -faced, -headed, -like adjs.
1587. Harrison, England, II. vii. 172/1, in Holinshed. If a man … be *wesell becked then much heare left on the checkes will make the owner looke big like a bowdled hen.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 177/2. Fuluus,… fox or *weazill colour.
1596. Nashe, Saffron-Walden, X 1 b. Mounsieur Fregeuile Gautius, that prating *weazell fac’d vermin, is one of the Pipers in this consort.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmagundi (1824), 148. A little meagre, weazel-faced Frenchman.
1877. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., II. 182. The *Weasel Family.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. § ii. i. 19. The *Weesle-Headed Armadillo, Tatu Mustelinus.
1768. Pennant, Brit. Zool., I. 82. This species is the least of the *weesel kind.
1899. F. V. Kirby, Sport E. C. Africa, 322. Their … *weasel-like slenderness of body.
1901. ‘Linesman,’ Words by Eyewitness, 153. Straightening his back from the cramp of setting his traps in a *weasel run.
1583. Rates Custome ho., F ij b. *Wesel skinnes the dosen, iiij. d.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. II. 378. The *Weesel tribe.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxxiii. (Bodl. MS.). Ȝif þe *wesel whelpes falleþ bi ony happe in chynnes … þe wesel heleþ ham wiþ a certeyne herbe.
b. Special comb.: weasel-coot, -duck, the female or young male of the smew; † weasel-fish, a rockling (cf. WHISTLE-fish); weasel-lemur, a small short-tailed lemur (Lepilemiir mustelinus); † weasel-ling, a kind of rockling; † weasel-monger, one who hunts rats, etc., with weasels; weasel-snout, the yellow dead-nettle or archangel (Lamium Galeobdolon), from the shape of the corolla.
1804. Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 266. Red-headed Smew, or *Weesel Coot.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 165. *Weasel ducks or Weasel coots.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 220. The Bladder Fish, and the *Weasel Fish.
1877. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., I. 223. This *Weasel Lemur … has fair-sized ears, and its colours are of all sorts of shades of red, grey, white, and yellow.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Norf. Fishes, Wks. 1835, IV. 328. Mustela Marina; called by some a *weazel ling, which, salted and dried, becomes a good Lenten dish.
1591. ? Peele, Sp. to Q. Eliz. at Theobalds, Gard. Sp. This *weasel-monger [i.e., a mole-catcher].
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 530. Yellow Archangel. Yellow Dead Nettle, or *Weasel snout.
