wheedle

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Merriam-Webster's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, Third Edition.
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The Word of the Day for January 3 is: 

wheedle   \WEE-dul\   verb
    *1 : to influence or entice by soft words or flattery
     2 : to gain or get by coaxing or flattering
     3 : to use soft words or flattery

Example sentence: 
     Steve hates shopping, but his wife wheedled him into going to the mall.

Did you know? 
     "Wheedle" has been a part of the English lexicon since the mid-17th 
century, though no one is quite sure how the word made its way into English. 
(It has been suggested that the term may have derived from an Old English word 
that meant "to beg," but this is far from certain.) Once established in the 
language, however, "wheedle" became a favorite of some of the language's most 
illustrious writers. "Wheedle" and related forms appear in the writings of 
Wordsworth, Dickens, Kipling, Dryden, Swift, Scott, Tennyson, and Pope, among 
others.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.