entry
cajole
/kəˈdʒoʊl/Persuade through flattery, promises, or gentle coaxing
From French jay-like chatter (Chatter or talk like a jaybird) + Latin, through French cage or enclosure (Cage).
from French cajoler "to cajole, wheedle, coax," a word of uncertain origin; perhaps a blend of cageoler "to chatter...
+1 more sourcefrom Late Latin caveola (whence English caveola), diminutive of Latin cavea (“cage, coop, enclosure, stall”). More at...
from Medieval Latin gabiola
from French cajoler "to cajole, wheedle, coax," a word of uncertain origin; perhaps a blend of cageoler "to chatter...
+1 more sourcefrom French cajoler "to cajole, wheedle, coax," a word of uncertain origin; perhaps a blend of cageoler "to chatter...
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from French cajoler "to cajole, wheedle, coax," a word of uncertain origin; perhaps a blend of cageoler "to chatter...
+1 more sourcefrom Late Latin caveola (whence English caveola), diminutive of Latin cavea (“cage, coop, enclosure, stall”). More at...
from Medieval Latin gabiola
from French cajoler "to cajole, wheedle, coax," a word of uncertain origin; perhaps a blend of cageoler "to chatter...
+1 more sourcefrom French cajoler "to cajole, wheedle, coax," a word of uncertain origin; perhaps a blend of cageoler "to chatter...
+1 more sourcePicture a jay in a noisy courtyard, flitting from branch to branch and chattering with shameless persistence. French appears to have combined that birdlike chatter with another image: someone being sweet-talked into a cage, from Old French gaioler, “to cage” or “entice into a cage.” The exact recipe is uncertain—etymologists call cajoler a probable blend, not a perfectly documented marriage—but the result is wonderfully visual: words as bait, a compliment as a trap. English recorded cajole in the 1640s, first with the sharper sense “deceive or delude by flattery,” before the modern sense softened into persuading a reluctant person. So when you cajole someone, imagine a jay doing the sales pitch while quietly holding the cage door open.
The Story
Picture a jay in a noisy courtyard, flitting from branch to branch and chattering with shameless persistence. French appears to have combined that birdlike chatter with another image: someone being sweet-talked into a cage, from Old French gaioler, “to cage” or “entice into a cage.” The exact recipe is uncertain—etymologists call cajoler a probable blend, not a perfectly documented marriage—but the result is wonderfully visual: words as bait, a compliment as a trap. English recorded cajole in the 1640s, first with the sharper sense “deceive or delude by flattery,” before the modern sense softened into persuading a reluctant person. So when you cajole someone, imagine a jay doing the sales pitch while quietly holding the cage door open.
Modern Usage
An act of defecating; to defecate
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entry describing “cajole” as an act of defecating
Kin & Kindred
From 'jay-like chatter'·Chatter or talk like a jaybird
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'cage or enclosure'·Cage, coop, or enticing someone into confinement
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary