weasel word

Etymology
Initially a reference to weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's "wriggling, evasive character".

Noun

 * 1)  A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies.
 * 2) * 1900. Century Magazine, quoted in Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1987)).
 * Weasel words are words that suck all of the life out of the words next to them just as a weasel sucks an egg and leaves the shell.
 * 1) * 1916 May 31,, speech delivered in St. Louis, MO:
 * Now, you can have universal training or you can have voluntary training, but when you use the word 'voluntary' to qualify the word 'universal', you are using a weasel word; it has sucked all the meaning out of 'universal'. The two words flatly contradict one another.
 * 1)  A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading.

Translations

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 狡辯之辭
 * Dutch: vaagtaal, wezelwoord
 * German: schwammiger Begriff
 * Hungarian: homályos/​ködösítő/​kétértelmű szó/​kifejezés/​megfogalmazás
 * Turkish: mana bozucu kelime

Verb

 * 1) To use weasel words.