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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
whet
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
appetite
▪ To whet your appetite, try the Wanaka lamb in orange sauce recipe on this page.
▪ Undergraduates will certainly find some interesting material, and researchers will also find enough examples to whet their appetite.
▪ If that's not enough to whet your appetite, we've 100 £4 entrance tickets to give away free!
▪ Martin's potted history of each railway is certainly sufficiently detailed to whet the appetite enough to free buttocks from armchair Dralon.
▪ Most of the notorious grade anomalies have been ironed out and the colour photos should whet people's appetites.
▪ Any departure from it would be more likely to whet appetites than to satisfy them.
▪ To whet your appetite, here are some of the most commonly asked questions about fine vintage wines.
▪ After a quick outline of what each type of program lets you do, I list some uses to whet your appetite.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After a quick outline of what each type of program lets you do, I list some uses to whet your appetite.
▪ Any departure from it would be more likely to whet appetites than to satisfy them.
▪ If that's not enough to whet your appetite, we've 100 £4 entrance tickets to give away free!
▪ Most of the notorious grade anomalies have been ironed out and the colour photos should whet people's appetites.
▪ To whet your appetite, here are some of the most commonly asked questions about fine vintage wines.
▪ To whet your appetite, try the Wanaka lamb in orange sauce recipe on this page.
▪ Undergraduates will certainly find some interesting material, and researchers will also find enough examples to whet their appetite.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Whet

Whet \Whet\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whetted; p. pr. & vb. n. Whetting.] [AS. hwettan; akin to D. wetten, G. wetzen, OHG. wezzen, Icel. hvetja, Sw. v["a]ttja, and AS. hw[ae]t vigorous, brave, OS. hwat, OHG. waz, was, sharp, Icel. hvatr, bold, active, Sw. hvass sharp, Dan. hvas, Goth. hwassaba sharply, and probably to Skr. cud to impel, urge on.]

  1. To rub or on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening; to sharpen by attrition; as, to whet a knife.

    The mower whets his scythe.
    --Milton.

    Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak.
    --Byron.

  2. To make sharp, keen, or eager; to excite; to stimulate; as, to whet the appetite or the courage.

    Since Cassius first did whet me against C[ae]sar, I have not slept.
    --Shak.

    To whet on, To whet forward, to urge on or forward; to instigate.
    --Shak.

Whet

Whet \Whet\, n.

  1. The act of whetting.

  2. That which whets or sharpens; esp., an appetizer. ``Sips, drams, and whets.''
    --Spectator.

    Whet slate (Min.), a variety of slate used for sharpening cutting instruments; novaculite; -- called also whetstone slate, and oilstone.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
whet

Old English hwettan "to whet, sharpen," figuratively "incite, encourage," from Proto-Germanic *hwatjan (cognates: Old Norse hvetja "to sharpen, encourage," Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wetten, Old High German wezzan, German wetzen "to sharpen," Gothic ga-hvatjan "to sharpen, incite"), from PIE root *kwed- "to sharpen" (cognates: Sanskrit codati "incites," literally "sharpens;" Old English hwæt "brave, bold," Old Saxon hwat "sharp").

Wiktionary
whet

n. 1 The act of whetting something. 2 That which whets or sharpens; especially, an appetizer. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone. 2 (context transitive English) To stimulate or make more keen.

WordNet
whet
  1. v. make keen or more acute; "whet my appetite" [syn: quicken]

  2. sharpen by rubbing, as on a whetstone

  3. [also: whetting, whetted]

Wikipedia
WHET

WHET (97.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic country format. Licensed to West Frankfort, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Marion- Carbondale area. The station is owned by Withers Broadcasting Companies and the broadcast license held by Withers Broadcasting of Southern Illinois, LLC. WHET features programming from Westwood One.

Usage examples of "whet".

But he would not whet that appetite either, and pointedly guided Bardel into dialogue with the woman.

The smell of freshly baked pasties and roasting fowl filled the air, whetting her appetite.

Their kiss had only whetted his appetite for her and he groaned, recalling how difficult it had been to peel those blue trews down over his swollen shaft.

The sizzling of the grease tantalized them as they waited with appetites whetted by the long day of riding.

With the hunger growing stronger each time she whetted it with her nearness, he lowered himself slowly to sit on the floor, bringing her to rest on his knees.

Their appetites had been only whetted by the sudden appearance of monsters among them.

The sound of the blade being whetted made cold, scraping noises in the quiet room.

Teresa, whose natural discernment would be whetted with jealousy, and who would watch his conduct, and thwart his progress with all the vigilance and spite of a slighted maiden.

His eyes had a glint of newly whetted knife-points in a ray of sunlight and his voice filled the room like the middle register of an electronic organ.

Hogg was likely guilty of greed, he doubted the scrawny mynah had whetted her appetite.

She was already familiar with his satirical poems and Sherry gave her a thumbnail sketch that whetted her appetite.

She allowed him a kiss, then tried to draw away, but one kiss did not satisfy His Highness, indeed it barely whetted his appetite for this delectable female.

To her credit, I must say that she had as yet displayed no fear, and I must say also that the sight of her sparkling eyes, her furiously flushed face, her defiant wriggling against her bonds, and the hoarse and insulting threats which she poured forth against me as I proceeded to immobilize her for the preliminary conquest of her person whetted my sexual appetites to a boundless flight of rapture.

And this compound of both artificial and natural bodily effluvia whetted me as my nostrils savoringly drank it in.

By now, as you can guess, my own rod was in a ferocious state of readiness, and I would as soon apply one as the other because the voluptuous nakedness of this dashingly handsome pert little minx whetted all my carnal appetites.