whet

The verb is derived from Middle English whetten (“to make the edge of (a sword, tool, etc.) sharp; to grunt, snort; to scrape the ground with (one’s feet); to make a chattering or grinding sound; (figurative) of a person: to prepare for battle; to make (one’s wit) alert or keen; to strengthen (one’s heart or will); to incite, provoke”),^[1] from Old English hwettan (“to sharpen, whet; (figurative) to encourage, incite”),^[2] from Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan (“to sharpen, whet”), from Proto-Germanic *hwatjaną (“to sharpen, whet; (figurative) to incite, instigate”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”).^[3]

Verb sense 1.3.3 (“to inculcate or teach (habits, information, etc.)”) is from Deuteronomy 6:6–7 in the Bible (New International Version): “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children.” The word translated as impress is Hebrew שָׁנַן (shanán, “to be sharp; to sharpen, whet”).^[3]

The noun is derived from the verb.^[4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛt/, [ˈwɛ(ʔ)t̚]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛt/, (without the wine–whine merger) /ˈʍɛt/, [ˈʍɛ(ʔ)t̚]

• Audio (General American, wine–whine merger); /ˈwɛt/:

  (file)

• Audio (General American, without the wine–whine merger); /ˈʍɛt/:

  (file)

• Homophone: wet (wine–whine merger)
• Rhymes: -ɛt

whet (third-person singular simple present whets, present participle whetting, simple past and past participle whetted or whet)

1. (transitive)
   2. To sharpen (something, such as a knife or sword) by rubbing on an object, especially a whetstone; to hone.

      Synonyms: steel, strop

      • 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, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

        Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

      • a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 33:

        And the Mower whets his ſithe,

      • 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XLII:

        Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak.

   3. Of an animal such as a boar: to sharpen (its horns, teeth, tusks, etc.) by rubbing on a stone, etc., in preparation for an attack.
   4. (figurative)
      1. To make more keen or to stimulate (someone's appetite, interest, etc.); to hone, to sharpen.

         Synonyms: rouse; see also Thesaurus:thrill

         to whet one's appetite or one's courage

         • 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, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

           Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, / I have not slept.

         • 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xv^[1]:

           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.

         • 2003 October 9, Naomi Wolf, “The Porn Myth”, in New York Magazine‎^[2]:

           In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing.

      2. (obsolete) To encourage (someone) to do something; to incite, to urge.
      4. (obsolete) To inculcate or teach (habits, information, etc.).

         Synonyms: see Thesaurus:incite

      5. (obsolete, rare) Of a bird: to preen (its feathers).

         Synonyms: primp, smarten up

2. (intransitive, figurative)
   1. To make more keen; to stimulate.
   2. To prepare for an attack.
   3. (obsolete) To consume drink or food as an appetizer.

• whetstone

whet (plural whets)

1. An act of sharpening something by rubbing on an object, especially a whetstone.
2. (by extension, archaic except UK, dialectal)
   1. An occasion to do something; a go, a turn.
   2. A period of time between two sharpenings of a scythe.
3. (figurative)
   1. An item of drink or food consumed as an appetizer or to ward off hunger until a meal; specifically, a small amount of liquor drunk as an appetizer; a dram, a nip.
      • 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, →OCLC:

        sips, drams, and whets

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1769, Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper:

        To make a nice Whet before Dinner […]

   2. A thing which makes one's desire, interest, etc., more keen; an incitement, an inducement.
      • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:

        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.

• a-whet (archaic)
• sawwhet, saw-whet owl

• Thew, thew

whet

1. alternative form of whete

From Middle English whet, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī.

• IPA^(key): /hwɛt/

whet

1. wheat

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 78