To entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter;
to coax. [1913 Webster] The unlucky art of wheedling fools.
--Dryden. [1913 Webster] And wheedle a world that loves him not.
--Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
To grain, or get away, by flattery. [1913
Webster] A deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which
I wheedled out of her. --Congreve. [1913 Webster]
Wheedle \Whee"dle\, v. i. To flatter; to coax; to
cajole. [1913 Webster]
Word Net
wheedle v : influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering; "He palavered her into going along" [syn: cajole, palaver, blarney, coax, sweet-talk, inveigle]Moby Thesaurus
adulate, advocate, apply pressure, banter, beset, besiege, beslobber, beslubber, blandish, blarney, bug, buttonhole, cajole, call on, call upon, coax, compliment, con, conceit, dun, exert pressure, exhort, fawn upon, flatter, high-pressure, importune, insist, insist upon, jawbone, lobby, make fair weather, nag, nag at, oil the tongue, palaver, pester, plague, plead with, ply, praise, press, pressure, push, recommend, slobber over, soft-soap, sweet-talk, tease, urge, work onEnglish
Etymology
Origin uncertain. Possibly from Old English "waedlian" ("to beg").Pronunciation
Verb
andThe Wheedle was originally the title character of
a popular children's book by Seattle author
Stephen Cosgrove. The character eventually evolved into a popular
mascot generally associated with the city of Seattle.
Children's Book Character
"The Wheedle on the Needle" (Serendipity Books,
1974), written by Stephen Cosgrove and illustrated by Robin James,
was about a large, round, furry creature called the Wheedle who
lived in the Northwest. Bothered by the whistling of workers first
settling the city of Seattle, the creature was unable to sleep and
became irritable, eventually moving to Mount
Rainier to escape the noise. The Wheedle slept there peacefully
for many years, his red nose blinking, until the reigon's growth
brought people- and their whistling- to his doorstep once again. In
an effort to silence the noise, the Wheedle gathered clouds in a
large sack atop Mt. Rainier, returned to Seattle, climbed atop the
Space
Needle, and threw them into the sky to make it rain. With their
lips wet from precipitation, the city's residents were unable to
whistle, and the creature once again had some peace and quiet.
Upset, the people sent the mayor to try and convince the Wheedle to
stop the rain; when the creature explained his problem, the mayor
had a giant pair of earmuffs constructed to drown out the
disagreeable warbling. When they were presented to him, "The
Wheedle placed them over his ears, and smiled for the first time in
years." In appreciation, the Wheedle gathered up all the clouds,
put them back in his bag, and fell fast asleep - and once again,
his big red nose began to blink. The book ends with a short poem:
There's a Wheedle/On the Needle/I know just what/You're
thinking/But if you look up/Late at night/You'll see/His red nose
blinking.
In 2002, a second edition of the book was
published. The story was significantly rewritten, generally
matching the existing illustrations, but entirely eliminating
environmental themes present in the original story and altering it
so that the Wheedle was not native to the Seattle area.
There was also another children's book featuring
the Wheedle, entitled "How to Cook a Bunch of Stuff With the
Wheedle." A cookbook for kids, the book has the Wheedle
demonstrating how to cook a "bunch of stuff" and to appreciate what
their mothers do in the kitchen. The book was by Stephen Cosgrove
with recipes by Nancy Roberts, and it was also part of the
Serendipity series.
Seattle Mascot
From 1978 through 1985 the Wheedle was the
official mascot of the NBA's Seattle
SuperSonics, and was part of the organization when they won
their only NBA
Championship to date (in 1979).
It would not be until 1993 that the Sonics would debut a new
mascot, Squatch, who
remains the team's mascot today. While representing the Sonics, the
character wore a jersey bearing number 0.
The Wheedle was also the official mascot of the
Space Needle from the late 1970s until 1984. In May of 1982, the
Space Needle opened a new addition at its 100-foot level amidst
controversy about altering the then 20-year old structure, a
mixed-use restaurant and banquet facility called "The Wheedle in
the Needle". The facility existed as restaurant for only about a
year, before it was converted to a full-time banquet facility (now
referred to as the "Skyline Level"). The Space Needle adopted a new
mascot, "Sneedle," in 1997; however it appears that the character
is no longer in use.
In 1993, the Wheedle became the mascot for
KOMO-TV (Seattle's ABC affiliate), and appeared at many events
wearing a KOMO hat and t-shirt. The character represented KOMO for
several years before being unofficially retired in the late
1990s.
Currently, the Wheedle can be seen encased in a
block of plastic "ice," in a small SuperSonics museum, near the
Sonics & Storm Team Shop at Seattle's Key
Arena.
Music Industry
In 1974, the Seattle band Annakonda (originally
from Spokane) recorded a
funky instrumental track called "Wheedle's Groove." The song got
significant airplay in the Seattle area and was released as a
single a few years later, after a local radio station adopted it as
the theme song for the SuperSonics during their run to the 1978 NBA
Finals. In 2004, the song was part of a compilation CD entitled
"Wheedle's Groove: Seattle's Finest in Funk and Soul - 1965-75," on
Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records. As of 2006, a documentary
film called Wheedle's Groove is rumored to be in the works.
In the early 2000s there was short-lived band in
Seattle called "The Wheedle," a group that was active circa
2000-2001. The events calendar on the Experience
Music Project (EMP) website described them as "a trio from
Seattle, WA composed of Robert Walker (drums/vocals), Ed Hodge
(bass/vocals) and Joel Lederer (vocals/guitar). Their music blurs
the lines of genre in favor of songwriting and lyrical exploration,
mining the traditions of rock, folk, pop, alternative, blues, jazz
and more to create a sound that is as familiar as it is
unique."