wheedly

English

Etymology

From wheedle +‎ -y.

Adjective

wheedly (comparative more wheedly, superlative most wheedly)

1. Involving or characterized by wheedling (flattery, cajoling); coaxy.
   • 1838 October, Sarah Lyttelton, Baroness Lyttelton, “Lady Lyttelton to the Hon. Caroline Lyttelton.”, in Mrs. Hugh Wyndham [Maud Mary Lyttelton], editor, Correspondence of Sarah Spencer, Lady Lyttelton: 1787–1870, London: John Murray, published 1912, page 282:

     The maids of honour (Miss Lister and Miss Paget) are very coaxy and wheedly with me, and nice creatures both of them.

   • 1955, Patrick White, The Tree of Man, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →ISBN, page 74:

     "Listen, dear," said Mrs. O'Dowd, who had begun to sound wheedly, "shall we be goin to look at the floods?"

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 887:

     There's no way the guy could be like intentionally making his voice this wheedly-sounding; it's got to be Gately's own Disease.

   • 2021, Louise Erdrich, The Sentence: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper, →ISBN, page 8:

     Danae's voice went sweet and wheedly. ¶ 'You're big. You can heft him. Budgie's on the slight side.'

References

• “wheedly, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.