(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To make sharp, keen, or eager; to excite; to stimulate; as, to whet the appetite or the courage.
(n.) The act of whetting.
(n.) That which whets or sharpens; esp., an appetizer.
Example Sentences:
(1) In each instance, the interest in foreign models was whetted by a perceived social emergency: the heroin epidemic following World War II and the HIV epidemic of the last decade.
(2) I’ll be back soon with more build up and team news, but for now get your thoughts, predictions and pedantry coming in to @KidWeil or graham.parker.freelance@guardiannews.com and to further whet your appetite, here’s what happened when these sides last met, during the semi-final round of World Cup qualifiers last September - have we mentioned the Grind™ of Concacaf qualification yet?
(3) We'd found some great beaches but these had only whetted our appetites.
(4) I've had a good few chats with them and it's whetted my appetite.
(5) All the men in attendance wore purple gladioli in the pockets, a huge picture of Oscar Wilde presided over the ceremony, and before Julie entered the room in her cream wedding dress, the intro music Morrissey uses for his live shows whetted the appetite of the guests.
(6) Our interest in the question has been whetted by the finding to date of some eight possible examples of a founder effect in studies of twelve different tribes.
(7) I know scientists have got to whet the appetite for future publications, but this is just too tantalizing.
(8) He returns to our screens later this month in Drake Doremus's New York based drama Breathe In , so to whet your appetite we're taking a look at five of his best performances.
(9) Until February 14 and then February 28 with concessions, according to the old familiar routine, tossed to us to whet our appetite for hope and further waiting.
(10) Here's a little sample to whet your appetite … • Derek Malcolm on Kieslowski ahead of a film season celebrating his work in 2003.
(11) Cresswell also has a production company, Open Mike Productions, whose series of comedy shows starring Michael McIntyre, another Cresswell client, single-handedly whetted broadcasters' new-found appetite for standup.
(12) The data are discussed in the context of the effects of priming as a form of appetite whetting.
(13) While the emphasis is on medical and nursing libraries, other libraries of various types and sizes are included in order to whet the appetites of librarians visiting Boston in 1966.
(14) If anything, an accomplished debut only whetted the appetite for more.
(15) Managing a team again, albeit for an exhibition before the Fifa Congress, had whetted Mourinho’s appetite for a return to coaching.
(16) Finally, the public's appetite is whetted by the increasing number of heritable diseases whose molecular basis is being elucidated.
(17) 7.59pm BST I'm already two pies down and have whetted my appetite with the Hairy Bikers' Norway montage.
(18) Twofour's precursor to Educating Yorkshire, Educating Essex, appeared on C4 two years ago, and whetted the appetite for a sequel.
(19) From this point on, the great drama in his life and work consisted of his battle to frustrate journalists and would-be groupies, whose interest in his life had been whetted by what seemed to them – not without reason – the autobiographical element in his fiction.
(20) "This game is whetting my appetite, especially after Portugal's less than impressive performance earlier.