Word of the Day

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

SUNDAY, MARCH 15

Wangle

[WANG-ɡəl]Part of speech: verb

Origin: unknown, late 19th century

• Manage to obtain (something) by persuading or cleverly manipulating someone.
• Manipulate a situation in your favor.

Examples of Wangle in a sentence

• She was desperate to wangle an invitation to the exclusive party.
• If you can wangle it, we have room in the car for one more.

About Wangle

The origin of wangle is unknown because it doesn’t seem to be inspired by another language, but that’s not to say we don’t know where it started. “Wangler'' was printer’s slang in the 19th century, meaning to fake. Wangle came to be used outside of the print shop to refer to any kind of manipulation.

Did you Know?

Wangle is a fun bit of slang to describe coercion or manipulation, but it had largely fallen out of use. That is until J.K. Rowling slipped it into “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” If a word is good enough for the Minister of Magic, it deserves to wangle its way back into our vocabulary.