| whidah bird | <ornithology> Any one of several species of finchlike birds belonging to the genus Vidua, native of Asia and Africa. In the breeding season the male has very long, drooping tail feathers. Synonym: vida finch, whidah finch, whydah bird, whydah finch, widow bird, and widow finch. Some of the species are often kept as cage birds, especially Vidua paradisea, which is dark brownish above, pale buff beneath, with a reddish collar around the neck. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| whiff | 1. A sudden expulsion of air from the mouth; a quick puff or slight gust, as of air or smoke. "But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword The unnerved father falls." (Shak) "The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, And a scornful laugh laughed he." (Longfellow) 2. A glimpse; a hasty view. 3. <zoology> The marysole, or sail fluke. Origin: OE. Weffe vapor, whiff, probably of imitative origin; cf. Dan. Vift a puff, gust, W. Chwiff a whiff, puff. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whiffing | 1. The act of one who, or that which, whiffs. 2. A mode of fishing with a hand line for pollack, mackerel, and the like. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whiffler | 1. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a trifler. "Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the chocolate house shall talk of the constitution." (Swift) 2. One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper. 3. An officer who went before procession to clear the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger. "Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king, Seems to prepare his way." (Shak) "Whifflers, or fifers, generally went first in a procession, from which circumstance the name was transferred to other persons who succeeded to that office, and at length was given to those who went forward merely to clear the way for the procession. . . . In the city of London, young freemen, who march at the head of their proper companies on the Lord Mayor's day, sometimes with flags, were called whifflers, or bachelor whifflers, not because they cleared the way, but because they went first, as whifflers did." 4. <zoology> The golden-eye. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| while | 1. Space of time, or continued duration, especially. When short; a time; as, one while we thought him innocent. "All this while." "This mighty queen may no while endure." (Chaucer) "[Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while, And tells the jest without the smile." (Coleridge) "I will go forth and breathe the air a while." (Longfellow) 2. That which requires time; labour; pains. "Satan . . . Cast him how he might quite her while." (Chaucer) at whiles, at times; at intervals. "And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim Powers that we dread." (J. H. Newman) The while, The whiles, in or during the time that; meantime; while. Within a while, in a short time; soon. Worth while, worth the time which it requires; worth the time and pains; hence, worth the expense; as, it is not always worth while for a man to prosecute for small debts. Origin: AS. Hwil; akin to OS. Hwil, hwila, OFries. Hwile, D. Wigl, G. Weile, OHG. Wila, hwila, hwil, Icel. Hvila a bed, hvild rest, Sw. Hvila, Dan. Hvile, Goth. Hweila a time, and probably to L. Quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. The proper time of season. Cf. Quiet, Whilom. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whilk | 1. <zoology> A kind of mollusk, a whelk. 2. <zoology> The scoter. See: Whelk a mollusk. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whim | <zoology> The European widgeon. Origin: Cf. Whimbrel. 1. A sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice. "Let every man enjoy his whim." (Churchill) 2. <chemical> A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc, from mines, or for other purposes; called also whim gin, and whimsey. <chemical> Whim gin, a shaft through which ore, water, etc, is raised from a mine by means of a whim. Synonym: Freak, caprice, whimsey, fancy. Whim, Freak, Caprice. Freak denotes an impulsive, inconsiderate change of mind, as by a child or a lunatic. Whim is a mental eccentricity due to peculiar processes or habits of thought. Caprice is closely allied in meaning to freak, but implies more definitely a quality of willfulness or wantonness. Origin: Cf. Icel. Hwima to wander with the eyes, vim giddiness, Norw. Kvima to whisk or flutter about, to trifle, Dan. Vimse to skip, whisk, jump from one thing to another, dial. Sw. Hvimsa to be unsteady, dizzy, W. Chwimio to move briskly. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whimbrel | <zoology> Any one of several species of small curlews, especially the European species (Numenius phaeopus), called also Jack curlew, half curlew, stone curlew, and tang whaup. Hudsonian or, Eskimo, whimbreal, the Hudsonian curlew. Origin: Cf. Whimper. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whimsy | Origin: See Whim. 1. A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit. "The whimsies of poets and painters." "Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy." (Swift) "Mistaking the whimseys of a feverish brain for the calm revelation of truth." (Bancroft) 2. <chemical> A whim. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whin | 1. <botany> Gorse; furze. See Furze. "Through the whins, and by the cairn." (Burns) Woad-waxed. 2. Same as Whinstone. <botany> Moor whin or Petty whin, the redwing. Origin: W. Chwyn weeds, a single weed. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whinberry | <botany> The English bilberry; so called because it grows on moors among the whins, or furze. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whinchat | <zoology> A small warbler (Pratincola rubetra) common in Europe. Synonym: whinchacker, whincheck, whin-clocharet. Origin: So called because it frequents whins. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whinyard | 1. A sword, or hanger. 2. [From the shape of the bill. <zoology> The shoveler. The poachard. Origin: Cf. Prov. E. & Scot. Whingar, whinger; perhaps from AS. Winn contention, war + geard, gyrd, a staff, rod, yard; or cf. AS. Hwinan to whistle, E. Whine. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whip | 1. To strike with a lash, a cord, a rod, or anything slender and lithe; to lash; to beat; as, to whip a horse, or a carpet. 2. To drive with lashes or strokes of a whip; to cause to rotate by lashing with a cord; as, to whip a top. 3. To punish with a whip, scourge, or rod; to flog; to beat; as, to whip a vagrant; to whip one with thirty nine lashes; to whip a perverse boy. "Who, for false quantities, was whipped at school." (Dryden) 4. To apply that which hurts keenly to; to lash, as with sarcasm, abuse, or the like; to apply cutting language to. "They would whip me with their fine wits." (Shak) 5. To thrash; to beat out, as grain, by striking; as, to whip wheat. 6. To beat (eggs, cream, or the like) into a froth, as with a whisk, fork, or the like. 7. To conquer; to defeat, as in a contest or game; to beat; to surpass. 8. To overlay (a cord, rope, or the like) with other cords going round and round it; to overcast, as the edge of a seam; to wrap; often with about, around, or over. "Its string is firmly whipped about with small gut." (Moxon) 9. To sew lightly; specifically, to form (a fabric) into gathers by loosely overcasting the rolled edge and drawing up the thread; as, to whip a ruffle. "In half-whipped muslin needles useless lie." (Gay) 10. To take or move by a sudden motion; to jerk; to snatch; with into, out, up, off, and the like. "She, in a hurry, whips up her darling under her arm." (L'Estrange) "He whips out his pocketbook every moment, and writes descriptions of everything he sees." (Walpole) 11. To hoist or purchase by means of a whip. To secure the end of (a rope, or the like) from untwisting by overcasting it with small stuff. 12. To fish (a body of water) with a rod and artificial fly, the motion being that employed in using a whip. "Whipping their rough surface for a trout." (Emerson) To whip in, to drive in, or keep from scattering, as hounds in a hurt; hence, to collect, or to keep together, as member of a party, or the like. To whip the cat. To practice extreme parsimony. To go from house to house working by the day, as itinerant tailors and carpenters do. Origin: OE. Whippen to overlay, as a cord, with other cords, probably akin to G. & D. Wippen to shake, to move up and down, Sw. Vippa, Dan. Vippe to swing to and fro, to shake, to toss up, and L. Vibrare to shake. Cf. Vibrate. To move nimbly; to start or turn suddenly and do something; to whisk; as, he whipped around the corner. "With speed from thence he whipped." (Sackville) "Two friends, traveling, met a bear upon the way; the one whips up a tree, and the other throws himself flat upon the ground." (L'Estrange) 1. An instrument or driving horses or other animals, or for correction, consisting usually of a lash attached to a handle, or of a handle and lash so combined as to form a flexible rod. "[A] whip's lash." "In his right hand he holds a whip, with which he is supposed to drive the horses of the sun." (Addison) 2. A coachman; a driver of a carriage; as, a good whip. 3. <machinery> One of the arms or frames of a windmill, on which the sails are spread. The length of the arm reckoned from the shaft. 4. A small tackle with a single rope, used to hoist light bodies. The long pennant. See Pennant 5. A huntsman who whips in the hounds; whipper-in. 6. A person (as a member of Parliament) appointed to enforce party discipline, and secure the attendance of the members of a Parliament party at any important session, especially when their votes are needed. A call made upon members of a Parliament party to be in their places at a given time, as when a vote is to be taken. Whip and spur, with the utmost haste. Whip crane, or Whip purchase, a simple form of crane having a small drum from which the load is suspended, turned by pulling on a rope wound around larger drum on the same axle. Whip gin. See Gin block, under 5th Gin. Whip grafting. See Grafting. Whip hand, the hand with which the whip is used; hence, advantage; mastery; as, to have or get the whip hand of a person. Whip ray, any one of various species of slender snakes. Specifically: A bright green South American tree snake (Philodryas viridissimus) having a long and slender body. It is not venomous. Called also emerald whip snake. The coachwhip snake. Origin: OE. Whippe. See Whip. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| whip bougie | A bougie tapered to a threadlike tip at the end. (05 Mar 2000) |