wheedling

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of wheedle

comparative more wheedling · superlative most wheedling

1. Coaxing, aiming to persuade.

   ESTRAGON: That would be too bad, really too bad. [Pause.] Wouldn't it, Didi, be really too bad? [Pause.] When you think of the beauty of the way. [Pause.] And the goodness of the wayfarers. [Pause. Wheedling.] Wouldn't it, Didi?

   1954, Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, →ISBN, page 8

   1 more example

   Then, in a soft, wheedling voice, "Canst thou not let me in, my little bird? Sure there are other lasses besides thyself who would like to trade with a poor peddler who has travelled all the way from Gruenstadt just to please the pretty ones of Trutz-Drachen."

   1888, Howard Pyle, “ch. 9”, in Otto of the Silver Hand

plural wheedlings

1. The act of one who wheedles.