Definition of "whet"

whet

/ˈwɛt/

verb
third-person singular simple present whets, present participle whetting, simple past and past participle whetted or whet
1. (transitive) To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.
  Quotations
  Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
  c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]
  And the Mower whets his ſithe,
  a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, page 33
  Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak.
  1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], stanza XLII
2. (transitive) To stimulate or make more keen.
  Quotations
  Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, / I have not slept.
  1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
  My faith in vegetarianism grew on me from day to day. Salt's book whetted my appetite for dietetic studies. I went in for all books available on vegetarianism and read them.
  1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xv
  In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing.
  2003 October 9, Naomi Wolf, “The Porn Myth”, in New York Magazine‎
3. (transitive, obsolete) To preen.
noun
plural whets
1. The act of whetting something.
2. That which whets or sharpens; especially, an appetizer.
  Quotations
  sips, drams, and whetsThe spelling has been modernized.
  1714 July 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, July 19, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 569; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
  To make a nice Whet before Dinner […]
  1769, Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper
  A really good game, to my mind, must have an element, however slight, of physical danger to the player. This is the great whet to skilled performance.
  1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major

Definition of "whet"

whet

verb

Quotations

Quotations

noun

Quotations