whip-socket 
whip-socket (hwip'sok'et), ?(. A socket at- 
taeued to the dashboard of a vehicle, to receive 
the butt of the whip. 
whip-staff (hwip'staf), H. 1. A whiphaudle. — 
2. yaiit., a bar by which the rudder is turned : 
an old name for the tiller in small vessels. Fal- 
coner. 
whip-stalk (hwip'stak), n. Same as whip-stock. 
whipster (hwip'ster), «. [(. whip + -ster.'\ 1. 
8auie as ichipper-snapper. 
Every puny whipster gets my swoid. 
Shak., Othello, v. 2. 244. 
That young liquorish whipster Heartfree. 
Vanbrugh, Piovoked Wife, v. 3. 
2t. A sharper. Buileij, 1731. 
whip-stick (hwip'stik), n. Same as whip-stock. 
— Whlp-Stlclc palm. See palmil. 
whip-stitch (h\vip'stich),f. t. 1. To sew over 
andover: especiallyiisedin bookbinding. Com- 
pare whip, r. t., i. — 2. In agri., to half-plow or 
rafter. Imp. Diet. [Local, Eng.] 
whip-stitch (hwip'stich), n. [< whip-stitch, v.] 
1. In agri., a sort of half-plowing, otherwise 
called raftering. [Local, Eng.] — 2. A hasty 
composition. Drydcn. [Bare.] — 3. Apartiele; 
the smallest piece. [Colloq.] — 4. A tailor: 
used in contempt. 
whip-stitching (hwip'stich^ing), n. See whip- 
ping, 4. 
whip-stock (hwip'stok), n. The staff, rod, or 
handle to which the lash of a whip is secured. 
Also whip-stalk, whip-stick. 
Out, carter ; 
Hence, dirty whipgtock; hence, you foul clown. 
Be gone. T. Tomkis (?), Albumazar, iv. 4. 
Phoebus, when 
He broke his whipgtock, and exclaim'd against 
The horses of the sun. 
Fletcher {and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 
whip-tail, whip-tailed (hwip'tal, -tald), a. 
Having a. long, slender tail like a whip-lash: 
as, the trhip-tail scorpion. See whip-scorpion. 
whip-tom-kelly (hwip'tom-kel'i), n. The 
blaek-whiskered vireo or greenlet of Cuba, 
the Bahamas, and Florida, Vireo hariatidus : 
so ealled in imitation of its note. It closely resem- 
bles the common red-eyed vireo of the United States, but 
has Ijlack mystacial stripes. Compare cut under greenlet. 
whip-top (hwip'top), n. A top which is spun 
by wliipping. Also whipping-top. 
We have hitherto been speaking of the whip-top; for 
the peg-top, I believe, must be ranked among the modern 
inventions, and probably originated from the te-totums 
and whirligigs. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 492. 
whip-worm (hwip'werm), n. A nematoid para- 
sitic worm, Trichoccphalus dispar, or another of 
this genus, as T. affinis, the ceecum-worm of 
sheep. They have a long, slender anterior part and a 
short, stout posterior part, like a whip-lash joined to a 
whip-stock. 
whir (hwer), v. ; pret. and pp. whirred, ppr. ic7ij>- 
ring. [Also whirr, and formerly whiir ; prob. < 
Ban. hfirrc, whirl, twirl, = Sw. dial, hwirra, 
whirl; cf. (t. schwirren, whir, buzz. Cf. whirl.^ 
I. intrans. To fly, dart, revolve, or otherwise 
move quickly witli a whizzing or buzzing 
sound; whizz. 
When the stone sprung back again, and smote 
Earth, like a whirlwind, gath'ring dust with whirring 
fiercely round. 
For fervour of his unspent strength, in settling on the 
ground. Chapman, Iliad, xiv. 343. 
The lark 
Whirred from among the fern beneath our feet. 
Wordsworth, The Borderers, iii. 
The blue blaze whirred up the chimney and flashed into 
the room. S. Jttdd, Margaret, i, 13. 
And the ivhirriny sail [of the windmill] goes round. 
Tennyson, The Owl, i. 
II. trans. To hurry away with a whizzing 
sound. 
This world to me is like a lasting stonn, 
Wldrria'j me from my friends. 
Shak., Pericles, iv. 1. 21. 
whir (liwer), ». [Mao tchirr; <. whir, v.l 1. The 
buzzing or whirring sound made by a quickly 
revolving wheel, a partridge's wings, etc. 
As my lord's brougham drives up, . . . the ladies, who 
know the whirr of the wheels, and may be quarreling in 
the drawing-room, call a truce U) the fight. 
Thackeray, Philip, iv. 
2t. A turn; commotion. 
They flapt the door full in my face, and gave me such a 
whitrr here. Vanl/ruyh, Journey to London, ii. 1. 
whirl (hworl), r. [Formerly also tcherl. whiirl; 
< JIE. whirlen, whwirllen, wirlcn, contr. from 
*whcrvelcn = MD. werrelen, whirl. = O. wirheln, 
whirl, = Icel. hvirfla = Sw. lirirfln = Dan. 
hvirvle, whirl ; freq. of the verb represented by 
AS. hwcorfan, etc., turn: see wherrc, and cf. 
icarhle^. The E. verb is perhaps due to tlie 
6904 
Seand. ; it depends in part on the noun.] I. 
trans. 1. To swing or turn rapidly round; ro- 
tate, or cause to revolve rapidly. 
A-bowte cho whirUide a whele with her whitte hondez. 
ilorte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3201. 
My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 5. 19. 
With that his faulchion he wherled about. 
Bohin Hood and the Stranger (Child's Ballads, V. 416). 
2. To east with a twirling or twisting motion ; 
throw with a rapid whirl. 
And proudest Turrets to the ground hath wkurld. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6. 
First Sarpedon whirl'd his weighty lance. 
Pope, Iliad, xvi. 685. 
3. To cari'y swiftly away with or as if with a 
revolving or wheeling motion. 
See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels, 
That whirl'd the Prophet up at Chebar flood. 
Milton, The Passion, 1. 37. 
The last red leaf is whirl'd away. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xv. 
Uplifted by the blast, and whirled 
Along the highway of the world. 
Longfellow, Golden Legend, ii. 
= SjTL 1. To twirl, spin, revolve, rotate. 
II. intrans. 1. To turn rapidly; move round 
with velocity ; revolve or rotate swiftly. 
Four [moons] fixed, and the fifth did whirl about 
ITie other four. Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 183. 
This slippery globe of life whirls of itself. 
Lowell, Parting of the Ways. 
2. To pass or move with a rapid whirling mo- 
tion, or as if on wheels. 
I'll come and be thy waggoner. 
And whirl along with thee about the globe. 
Shak., Tit. And., v. 2. 49. 
What thoughts of horror and madness whirl 
Through the burning brain. 
Whittier, Mogg Megone, i. 
The supply of material in the world is practically con- 
stant; nothing drops off of it as we whirl through space, 
and the only thing added is some stray meteorite, insig- 
nificant except in the way of a sign or wonder. 
Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXX. 88. 
WMrllng chair, an apparatus formerly used to subdue 
intractable patients in retreats for the insane. After the 
victim had been strapped in, the chair was made to re- 
volve very rapidly.— 'Whirling dervish. See dervish. — 
Whirling plant. Same as telegraph-plant. 
whirl (hwerl), H. [< ME. whirl (in oomp.) = 
MD. wervel, worvel, a whirl, peg, a spinning- 
wheel, = OHG. icirhil, wjr^;, a whirlwind, MHG. 
G. wirbel, a whirl, the crown of the head, = Icel. 
hvirfiU, a circle, ring, the crown of the head: 
see whirl, v., and cf. wharl^, whorl.'] 1+. The 
whorl of a spindle. 
A whirle, ... a round Piece of Wood put on the spin- 
dle of a spinning-wheel. Bailey, 1731. 
Medle you with your spyndle and your whirle. 
Udall, Roister Doister, i. 3. 
2. A reel or hook used in rope-making for twist- 
ing strands of hemp or gut. — 3. A rope-winch. 
— 4. In hot. and conch. See whorl. — 5. A rapid 
circling motion or movement, as that of a re- 
volving body; rapid rotation, gyi'ation, or cir- 
cumvolution: literally and figuratively: as, the 
tohirl of a top or of a wheel ; the whirls of fancy. 
Thus I would prove the vicissitudes and whirl of plea- 
sures about and again. B. Jomon, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1. 
Now with sprightly 
Wheel downward come they into fresher skies ; . . . 
Still downward with capacious whirl they glide. 
Keats, Sleep and Poetry. 
6. Something that whirls, or moves with a rapid 
circling motion ; the circling eddy of a whirl- 
pool, a whirlwind, or the like. 
What flaws, and whirls of weather, 
Or rather storms, have been aloft these three days ! 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 6. 
XTpon the whirl, where sank the ship, 
The boat spun round and round. 
Coleridge, Ancient Mai'iner, vii. 
whirl-about (hwerra-bouf), n. 1. Something 
tliat whirls with velocity ; a whirligig. — 2t. A 
great fish of the whale kind ; a whirl-whale. 
The monstrous Whirl-about, 
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout, 
Where-with huge Vessels (if they happen nigh) 
Are over-whelm'd and sunken suddenly. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 5. 
whirlbat (hwerl'bat), n. [Also, by confusion, 
htirlhat; < whirl -\- bat^.] Tlie ancient cestus, 
a kind of boxing-glove used by Greek and Ro- 
man athletes. See cuts under cestiis'^, 2 
Your shoulders must not undergo the churlish wkoorlbat's 
fall ; 
Wrastling is past you, strife in darts, the foot's celerity ; 
Flarsh age in his years fetters you, and honour sets you 
free. Chapman. Iliad, xxiii. 538. 
He rejected them, as Dares did the whirlbat^ of Eryx. 
when they were thrown before him by Entellus. 
Dryden, Pref. to Fables. 
whirl-pillar 
whirlblast (hwerl'blast), n. A whirling blast 
of wind; a whirlwind. 
The whirl-blast comes, the desert sands rise up. 
Coleridge, Night-.Scene. 
A whirl-bla^ from behind the hill 
Rushed o'er the wood with startling sound. 
Wordsworth, Poems of Fancy, iii. 
Were this bitter whirl-blast fanged with flame. 
To me 'twere summer, we being side by side. 
Lowell, Paolo to Francesca. 
whirlbone (hwSrl'bon), n. [Early mod. E. also 
whyrlebone ; < ME. whirlbon, whyrlebone, whorle- 
bone (= MD. wervelben); < whirl + bone^. 
Hence, by confusion, hurlbone.'] If. The bone 
of a ball-and-socket joint, as in the hip. 
The . . . whirlebones of their hips, about which their 
hucklebones turne. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxviii. 11. 
2. The patella; the kneepan or stifie-boue. 
Patella. ... La palette du genouil. The tchirlebone of 
the knee. Nomendator. {Nares.) 
whirler (hwer'ler), «. [< idiiri -(- -«ri.] 1. One 
who or that which whirls. — 2. In rope-manuf., 
one of the revolving hooks to which the hemp 
is fastened in the operations of twisting it into 
rope-yarn or small rope. 
whirl-firet (hwerl'fir), n. Lightning. 
The smoaking storms, the whirl-fire's crackling clash. 
And deafening Thunders. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, it. The Lawe. 
whirlgig (hwerl'gig), n. Same as whirligig, 4. 
whirllCOtet (hwer'li-kot), n. [Appar. for whirl- 
c<ite {at. whirligig tor ivhirlgig),<. whirl + cote^.'] 
A wheel-carriage. 
Of old time. Coaches were not known in this Iland, but 
Chariots or Whirlv:otes, then so called, and they onely 
used for Princes or great Estates, such as had their foot- 
men about them. Stow, Survey of London (ed. 1633), p. 70. 
whirligig (hwer'li-gig), n. and a. [Early mod. 
E. whirlygig, whijrlygigge ; also whirlgig (in def. 
4, with a var. whirhcig); < ME. whi/rlegyge; < 
whirl -i- gigT^.] I. «. 1. Any toy or trivial object 
to which a rapid whirling motion is imparted. 
Especially — (a) A tee-totum, or a top. 
I tryll a whirlygig rounde aboute. Je pirouette. ... I 
holde the a peny that I wyll ti-yll my whirlygig longer 
about than thou shalte do thyne. Palsgrave, p. 762. 
Hath the truth been hid in corners, that we must grope 
for it in a sectary's budget'/ Or are not such men rather 
sick of Donatism ? That every novelist with a whirligig in 
his brain must broach new opinions I 
Bev. T. Adams, Works, 1. 180. 
They [the gods] gave Things their i^ginning. 
And set this Whirligig a Spinning. Prior, The Ladle. 
(6) A toy which children spin in the hand by means of 
string, (c) A carrousel or meiry-go-round. (d) A toy re- 
sembling a miniature windmill, which children cause to 
spin or whii-1 round by moving it through the air. 
2. Hence, anything that revolves or spins like 
a whirligig; also, spinning rotation ; revolving 
or recurring course. 
The whirliffig of time brings in his revenges. 
Shak., T. N., v. 1. 385. 
3. In }nilit. antiq., an instrument for punishing 
petty offenders, as a kind of wooden cage turn- 
ing on a pivot, in which the offender was 
whirled round with great velocity. — 4. In en- 
tom., any one of numerous species of water- 
beetles of the family Gyrinidsc, as Gyrinus na- 
tator, usually seen in large numbers on the sur- 
face of the water, circling rapidly about, and 
diving only to escape danger, when caught, many 
exude a milky liquid having an odor of apples. They 
abound in fresh-water ponds, pools, and ditches. The 
larvse are aquatic, and breathe by means of ciliate 
brauchise. The American whirligigs belong to the genera 
Gyrinus, Dineutus, and Gyretes. See cut under Gyrinidse. 
Also whirlgig, whirhcig, and whirl wig-beetle. 
Il.t a. Whirling. 
Thrise to her bed sliding shee quayls, with whirlygig eye- 
sight 
Up to the sky staring. Stanihurst, .Eneid, iv. 
And so continuing their whirlegigg-deuotious with con- 
tinuall turnings. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 307. 
whirling-table, whirling-machine (hwer'- 
ling-ta''''bl, -ma-shen*), «. 1. A machine con- 
trived for the purpose of exhibiting the princi- 
pal effects of centripetal or centrifugal forces, 
when bodies revolve in the circumferences of 
circles or on an axis. — 2. In pottery, a potters' 
lathe for holding a jilaster mold in which is 
laid a thin mass of clay, to form a plate or other 
circular piece. The mold shapes the inside of the 
piece, and a templet appi'oached to the revolving mold 
forms the outside. See potters' wheel, under potter^. 
3. A horizontal ann mounted for rotation about 
a vertical axis, used in experiments in aerody- 
namics, in determining the constants of ane- 
mometers, or for other purposes for which high 
velocities are desired under conditions thus at- 
tainable. 
whirl-pillar (hwcrl'pil'ar), (I. A waterspout; 
a dust-whirl. 
