the.com/whetting
sharpening desire or blades, one thin slice at a time.
means to hone an edge or provoke an appetite, both meaning the same thing: making something sharper by rubbing or teasing it.
from from old english hwettan, related to hwæt meaning bold or keen, the same root that opens beowulf as an exclamation of attention.
same rootwhet and quick share deep germanic ancestry
stone verbwhetstone existed before whet became standalone verb
appetite sensemetaphorical use predates 1600s, oddly older-feeling
not wetcompletely unrelated to water despite the sound
for instance
whetstone knife sharpening — japanese waterstones graded 220 to 8000 grit
whet your appetite idiom — shakespeare used the phrase in hamlet, 1600
scythe whetting ritual — farmers stop mid-field every few minutes to hone blades