whet

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   make keen or more acute

   Whet my appetite.

2. 2
   verb

   To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.

   Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

3. 3
   verb

   To stimulate or make more keen.

   To whet one's appetite or one's courage.

4. 4
   noun

   That which whets or sharpens; especially, an appetizer.

   Sips, drams, and whets.

From Middle English whetten, from Old English hwettan (“to whet, sharpen, incite, encourage”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *hwatjaną (“to incite, sharpen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”). Cognate with Dutch wetten (“to whet, sharpen”), German wetzen (“to whet, sharpen”), Icelandic hvetja (“to whet, encourage, catalyze”), dialectal Danish hvæde (“to whet”).

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