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# weasel

«weasel» in Mova's school dictionary: **a small, thin, fast wild animal with brown fur and a long…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a weasel, weasels); verb (weasel, weasels, weaselled/weaseled, weaselling/weaseling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A weasel is a small, thin, fast wild animal with brown fur and a long body that hunts mice and voles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#m1)

2) (informal, rude) A weasel is a sneaky person who cannot be trusted. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#m2)

3) To weasel out of something (informal) is to avoid doing it in a sneaky way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#m3)

4) Weasel words are vague words used to avoid saying something clearly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In nature studies it is a small hunter of the British countryside. In stories, weasels are often sly villains (as in "The Wind in the Willows"). In English lessons, "weasel words" are a trick in adverts and speeches. Phrases: weasel out of, weasel words, sly as a weasel.

### examples

- A weasel slipped into the hole after a mouse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x1)
- Don't trust him — he's a real weasel. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x2)
- He tried to weasel out of washing up. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x3)
- "Up to 50% off" uses weasel words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x4)
- The weasels took over Toad Hall in the story. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x5)
- Weasels are the smallest meat-eating mammals in Britain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x6)
- Just then a Weasel came by. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/#x7)

### note

Countable. UK spelling weaselled, US weaseled. Calling a person a weasel is an insult. Pop Goes the Weasel is a nursery rhyme. Stoats look similar but are bigger with a black tail tip.

### In the corpora

- [Almost everyone wants to eat a mouse: cats, owls, foxes, weasels, snakes and hawks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/120-how-real-mice-survive/0/)
- [The book's animals are characters in a story; real weasels and foxes are not wicked, they just hunt to eat.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood/27/)
- [The Stoats and Weasels have taken Toad Hall!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/65-willows-ch11-part1-why-steal-them/12/)
- [At last, right above their heads, they hear cheering, stamping and glasses clinking — the weasels' party.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/70-willows-ch12-part1-the-secret-passage-at-night/8/)
- [Through the door they hear the Chief Weasel making a speech about «our kind host, Mr.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/70-willows-ch12-part1-the-secret-passage-at-night/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «weasel» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/weasel/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.