"weasel out" meaning in All languages combined

See weasel out on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-weasel out.ogg [Australia] Forms: weasels out [present, singular, third-person], weaseling out [participle, present], weaselling out [participle, present], weaseled out [participle, past], weaseled out [past], weaselled out [participle, past], weaselled out [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*|past2=weaselled out|pres_ptc2=weaselling out}} weasel out (third-person singular simple present weasels out, present participle weaseling out or weaselling out, simple past and past participle weaseled out or weaselled out)
  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, often followed by of) To shirk, avoid, or fail to fulfill (a task, responsibility, etc.) Tags: idiomatic, intransitive, often Synonyms (shirk or avoid): cop out Translations (to weasel out of doing something): lusmuilla (Finnish), kiemurrella (Finnish), wykręcić się [perfective] (Polish), wykręcać się [imperfective] (Polish), wić się jak piskorz [imperfective] (Polish), уви́ливать (uvílivatʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), увильну́ть (uvilʹnútʹ) [perfective] (Russian), esquivar (Spanish), eludir (Spanish) Translations (to weasel something out of someone): huiputtaa (Finnish), kieroilla (Finnish), wić się jak piskorz [imperfective] (Polish), отверте́ться (otvertétʹsja) [perfective] (Russian), esquivar (Spanish), eludir (Spanish), vaguear (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-weasel_out-en-verb-4~ogFZuy Disambiguation of 'shirk or avoid': 97 3 Disambiguation of 'to weasel out of doing something': 64 36 Disambiguation of 'to weasel something out of someone': 64 36
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To obtain or extract, especially by cunning methods. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Synonyms (obtain with effort and cunning): dig up, ferret out, sniff out
    Sense id: en-weasel_out-en-verb-~Mc4MkLt Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs with particle (out) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 23 77 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs with particle (out): 24 76 Disambiguation of 'obtain with effort and cunning': 9 91

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for weasel out meaning in All languages combined (6.0kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "weasels out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaseling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaselling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaseled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaseled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaselled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaselled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "past2": "weaselled out",
        "pres_ptc2": "weaselling out"
      },
      "expansion": "weasel out (third-person singular simple present weasels out, present participle weaseling out or weaselling out, simple past and past participle weaseled out or weaselled out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990 December 24, “Table of Contents: Is Uncle Sam Being Suckered?”, in Time",
          "text": "With the costs of Desert Shield likely to double, Congress fumes at those allies who seem to be weaseling out of their pledges to help.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 September 10, “Obama's Big Test”, in Newsweek, retrieved 2011-05-16",
          "text": "And if they try to weasel out that way, Obama is warning them that he'll \"call them out.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To shirk, avoid, or fail to fulfill (a task, responsibility, etc.)"
      ],
      "id": "en-weasel_out-en-verb-4~ogFZuy",
      "links": [
        [
          "of",
          "of#English"
        ],
        [
          "shirk",
          "shirk"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ],
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "fulfill",
          "fulfill"
        ],
        [
          "task",
          "task"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, intransitive, often followed by of) To shirk, avoid, or fail to fulfill (a task, responsibility, etc.)"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "followed by of"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "sense": "shirk or avoid",
          "word": "cop out"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive",
        "often"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "word": "lusmuilla"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "word": "kiemurrella"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "wykręcić się"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "wykręcać się"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "wić się jak piskorz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "uvílivatʹ",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "уви́ливать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "uvilʹnútʹ",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "увильну́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "word": "esquivar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
          "word": "eludir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "word": "huiputtaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "word": "kieroilla"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "wić się jak piskorz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "otvertétʹsja",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "отверте́ться"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "word": "esquivar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "word": "eludir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "64 36",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
          "word": "vaguear"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (out)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992 28 Sept., Stanley Reed, \"Regarding Henry, Warily\" (Book review of Kissinger by Walter Isaacson), Businessweek (retrieved 16 May 2011)",
          "text": "In an effort to ingratiate himself with the 1968 Nixon campaign, Kissinger offered inside tips that he had weaseled out of friends privy to the Johnson Administration's talks with the North Vietnamese."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993 April 10, Steve McKerrow, “Movie shows cheerleader case getting too much media rah-rah”, in Baltimore Sun, page 1D",
          "text": "[S]ome of the characters we see among the blitzing media—a Houston TV reporter, an \"Inside Edition\" researcher and this film's producer and writer, James Manos Jr. and Jane Anderson—play themselves, each trying to weasel out the real inside story.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To obtain or extract, especially by cunning methods."
      ],
      "id": "en-weasel_out-en-verb-~Mc4MkLt",
      "links": [
        [
          "obtain",
          "obtain"
        ],
        [
          "extract",
          "extract"
        ],
        [
          "cunning",
          "cunning"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To obtain or extract, especially by cunning methods."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "sense": "obtain with effort and cunning",
          "word": "dig up"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "sense": "obtain with effort and cunning",
          "word": "ferret out"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "sense": "obtain with effort and cunning",
          "word": "sniff out"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-weasel out.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/27/En-au-weasel_out.ogg/En-au-weasel_out.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/En-au-weasel_out.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "weasel out"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (out)",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "weasels out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaseling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaselling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaseled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaseled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaselled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "weaselled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "past2": "weaselled out",
        "pres_ptc2": "weaselling out"
      },
      "expansion": "weasel out (third-person singular simple present weasels out, present participle weaseling out or weaselling out, simple past and past participle weaseled out or weaselled out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990 December 24, “Table of Contents: Is Uncle Sam Being Suckered?”, in Time",
          "text": "With the costs of Desert Shield likely to double, Congress fumes at those allies who seem to be weaseling out of their pledges to help.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 September 10, “Obama's Big Test”, in Newsweek, retrieved 2011-05-16",
          "text": "And if they try to weasel out that way, Obama is warning them that he'll \"call them out.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To shirk, avoid, or fail to fulfill (a task, responsibility, etc.)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "of",
          "of#English"
        ],
        [
          "shirk",
          "shirk"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ],
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "fulfill",
          "fulfill"
        ],
        [
          "task",
          "task"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, intransitive, often followed by of) To shirk, avoid, or fail to fulfill (a task, responsibility, etc.)"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "followed by of"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive",
        "often"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992 28 Sept., Stanley Reed, \"Regarding Henry, Warily\" (Book review of Kissinger by Walter Isaacson), Businessweek (retrieved 16 May 2011)",
          "text": "In an effort to ingratiate himself with the 1968 Nixon campaign, Kissinger offered inside tips that he had weaseled out of friends privy to the Johnson Administration's talks with the North Vietnamese."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993 April 10, Steve McKerrow, “Movie shows cheerleader case getting too much media rah-rah”, in Baltimore Sun, page 1D",
          "text": "[S]ome of the characters we see among the blitzing media—a Houston TV reporter, an \"Inside Edition\" researcher and this film's producer and writer, James Manos Jr. and Jane Anderson—play themselves, each trying to weasel out the real inside story.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To obtain or extract, especially by cunning methods."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "obtain",
          "obtain"
        ],
        [
          "extract",
          "extract"
        ],
        [
          "cunning",
          "cunning"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To obtain or extract, especially by cunning methods."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-weasel out.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/27/En-au-weasel_out.ogg/En-au-weasel_out.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/En-au-weasel_out.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "shirk or avoid",
      "word": "cop out"
    },
    {
      "sense": "obtain with effort and cunning",
      "word": "dig up"
    },
    {
      "sense": "obtain with effort and cunning",
      "word": "ferret out"
    },
    {
      "sense": "obtain with effort and cunning",
      "word": "sniff out"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "word": "lusmuilla"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "word": "kiemurrella"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "wykręcić się"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "wykręcać się"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "wić się jak piskorz"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "uvílivatʹ",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "уви́ливать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "uvilʹnútʹ",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "увильну́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "word": "esquivar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to weasel out of doing something",
      "word": "eludir"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "word": "huiputtaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "word": "kieroilla"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "wić się jak piskorz"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "otvertétʹsja",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "отверте́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "word": "esquivar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "word": "eludir"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to weasel something out of someone",
      "word": "vaguear"
    }
  ],
  "word": "weasel out"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (1d5a7d1 and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.