abwimmeln

== German == === Etymology === 19th century. Ostensibly from ab- (“off”) +‎ wimmeln (“to teem, to move in a confused crowd”). The meaning could perhaps be understood as “to keep such a crowd away, move out of it”. However, a more satisfying interpretation as “to wave aside” can be based on cognate Low German wiëmeln, wemeln, which also has the sense “to wag, wave”. Compare German abwinken (“wave aside”), abwiegeln (“appease”), and especially Dutch afwimpelen (“fob off”), which (though derived from the noun wimpel) is both phonetically and semantically very close to the German form. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈapˌvɪməln/, [ˈʔapˌvɪ.ml̩n] === Verb === abwimmeln (weak, third-person singular present wimmelt ab, past tense wimmelte ab, past participle abgewimmelt, auxiliary haben) (transitive, somewhat informal) to fob off, to get rid of a request, a caller, visitor etc., often by means of pretext ==== Usage notes ==== A dated construction is jemand/etwas von sich abwimmeln. The common contemporary usage is simply jemand/etwas abwimmeln. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== Abwimmlung === Further reading === “abwimmeln” in Duden online “abwimmeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache