different between withdraw vs wean

English

Etymology

From Middle English withdrawen (“to draw away, draw back”), from with- (“away, back”) + drawen (“to draw”). More at with-, draw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?ð?d???/, /w???d???/
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

withdraw (third-person singular simple present withdraws, present participle withdrawing, simple past withdrew, past participle withdrawn)

1. (transitive) To pull (something) back, aside, or away.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     Impossible it is that God should withdraw his presence from anything.

2. (intransitive) To stop talking to, or interacting with, other people and start thinking thoughts that are not related to what is happening around.
3. (transitive) To take back (a comment, etc); retract.

   to withdraw false charges

4. (transitive) To remove, to stop providing (one's support, etc); to take out of service.
5. (transitive) To extract (money from an account).
6. (intransitive) To retreat.
7. (intransitive) To be in withdrawal from an addictive drug etc. [from 20th c.]
   • 1994, Edward St Aubyn, Bad News, Picador 2006, p. 201:

     Simon had tried to rob a bank while he was withdrawing, but he had been forced to surrender to the police after they had fired several volleys at him.

Synonyms

• (take back): recant, unsay; See also Thesaurus:recant

Translations

References

• “withdraw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian (“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), from Proto-Germanic *wanjan? (“to make wont; accustom”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh?- (“to strive for; wish; love”). Cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Danish vænne, Swedish vänja, Icelandic venja. Related via PIE to wone, wont, and wonder, and perhaps win.

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?n, IPA^(key): /wi?n/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Verb

wean (third-person singular simple present weans, present participle weaning, simple past and past participle weaned)

1. (transitive) To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.

   • Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

2. (intransitive) To cease to depend on the mother's milk for nutrition.

3. (transitive, by extension, normally "wean off") To cause to quit something to which one is addicted, dependent, or habituated.
4. (intransitive, by extension) To cease to depend.

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Blend of wee +? ane (“one”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?wi?(?)n/, /?we?(?)n/, [we?n]

Noun

wean (plural weans)

1. (Scotland, Ulster) A small child.

Anagrams

• Ewan, Newa, anew, wane

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wæ???n/

Noun

w?an m

1. inflection of w?a:
   1. accusative/genitive/dative singular
   2. nominative/accusative plural

Scots

Etymology

wee +? ane

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [wen], [?w??n]

Noun

wean (plural weans)

1. young child

Synonyms

• bairnie

Derived terms

• weanish