whet

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To sharpen (a knife, for example); hone.
• transitive verb To make more keen; stimulate.
• noun Something that whets the appetite or desire.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of sharp-ening by friction; hence, something that provokes or stimulates; especially, something that whets the appetite, as a dram.
• To make sharp; sharpen (an edged or pointed tool or weapon) by rubbing it on a stone, or with an implement of stone or other material.
• To make sharp, keen, or eager; excite; stimulate: as, to whet the appetite.
• To rub; scratch.
• To prune or preen; trim.
• To cut with a knife.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To rub or on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening; to sharpen by attrition.
• transitive verb To make sharp, keen, or eager; to excite; to stimulate.
• transitive verb to urge on or forward; to instigate.
• noun The act of whetting.
• noun That which whets or sharpens; esp., an appetizer.
• noun (Min.) a variety of slate used for sharpening cutting instruments; novaculite; -- called also whetstone slate, and oilstone.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To hone or rub on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening – see whetstone.
• verb transitive To stimulate or make more keen.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb sharpen by rubbing, as on a whetstone
• verb make keen or more acute