wean off
to accustom someone to stop doing something
TRANSLATION
wean, wean off = entwöhnen; abstillen wean on = angewöhnen, eingewöhnen --- GOOGLE INDEX wean: approximately 2,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Meanwhile, in his State of the Union address, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke of WEANING America OFF foreign oil and how the country is producing more oil at home than what it imports.
(Wall Street Journal)
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Heroin substitute methadone is used to WEAN addicts OFF heroin but it can also become addictive.
(BBC News)
(Wall Street Journal)
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Heroin substitute methadone is used to WEAN addicts OFF heroin but it can also become addictive.
(BBC News)
Did you
know?
wean, wean off
verb
- to detach from that to which one is strongly habituated or devoted
- to accustom to something from an early age
- to accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling
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Wean is from the Old English "wenian," to accustom, and further from the Proto-Germanic "wanjanan," which is related to the Dutch wennen and German gewöhnen.
The original definition of weaning a child from the breast was generally expressed in Old English by "gewenian" or "awenian," which was used in the sense of "unaccustom" (such as in the German abgewöhnen, entwöhnen). The prefix gradually disappeared.
Wean is generally used with the prepositions "on" and "off" to denote accustom and unaccustom respectively:
- His parents weaned him on classical music from an early age.
- I lowered my blood pressure by weaning myself off of salt.
Some critics object to the figurative usage of wean on the grounds that it is purely a biological or zoological term and refers only to nourishment from mother's milk. Nonetheless, language has a tendency to take on a life of its own, and that requires that we wean ourselves on and off certain words and phrases as they evolve.
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SYNONYMS
(wean, wean off)
detach, unaccustom, halt, remove
(wean, wean on)
nourish, nurse, suckle
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"E-cigarettes can be a good way to wean yourself off tobacco."
verb
- to detach from that to which one is strongly habituated or devoted
- to accustom to something from an early age
- to accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling
---
Wean is from the Old English "wenian," to accustom, and further from the Proto-Germanic "wanjanan," which is related to the Dutch wennen and German gewöhnen.
The original definition of weaning a child from the breast was generally expressed in Old English by "gewenian" or "awenian," which was used in the sense of "unaccustom" (such as in the German abgewöhnen, entwöhnen). The prefix gradually disappeared.
Wean is generally used with the prepositions "on" and "off" to denote accustom and unaccustom respectively:
- His parents weaned him on classical music from an early age.
- I lowered my blood pressure by weaning myself off of salt.
Some critics object to the figurative usage of wean on the grounds that it is purely a biological or zoological term and refers only to nourishment from mother's milk. Nonetheless, language has a tendency to take on a life of its own, and that requires that we wean ourselves on and off certain words and phrases as they evolve.
---
SYNONYMS
(wean, wean off)
detach, unaccustom, halt, remove
(wean, wean on)
nourish, nurse, suckle
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"E-cigarettes can be a good way to wean yourself off tobacco."
