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Whirl

//wɜːl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act of whirling.

    "She gave the top a whirl and it spun across the floor."

  2. 2
    the act of rotating rapidly wordnet
  3. 3
    Something that whirls, such as a whirlwind.
  4. 4
    a usually brief attempt wordnet
  5. 5
    A confused tumult.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    confused movement wordnet
  2. 7
    A rapid series of events.

    "My life is one social whirl."

  3. 8
    the shape of something rotating rapidly wordnet
  4. 9
    Dizziness or giddiness.

    "My mind was in a whirl."

  5. 10
    (usually following “give”) A brief experiment or trial. informal

    "OK, let's give it a whirl."

Verb
  1. 1
    To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly. intransitive

    "The dancer whirled across the stage, stopped, and whirled around to face the audience."

  2. 2
    revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis wordnet
  3. 3
    To have a sensation of spinning or reeling. intransitive

    "My head is whirling after all that drink."

  4. 4
    flow in a circular current, of liquids wordnet
  5. 5
    To make something or someone whirl. transitive

    "The dancer whirled his partner round on her toes."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    fly around wordnet
  2. 7
    To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch. transitive

    "See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels, / That whirled the prophet up at Chebar flood."

  3. 8
    cause to spin wordnet
  4. 9
    turn in a twisting or spinning motion wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English whirlen, contracted from earlier *whirvelen, *whervelen, possibly from Old English *hwyrflian, *hweorflian (attested in hwirflung, hwerflung (“change, vicissitude”)), frequentative form of Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), itself from Proto-West Germanic *hwerban, from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną (“to turn”); or perhaps from Old Norse hvirfla (“to go round, spin”). Cognate with Dutch wervelen (“to whirl, swirl”), German wirbeln (“to whirl, swirl”), Danish hvirvle (“to whirl”), Swedish virvla (older spelling hvirfla), Albanian vorbull (“a whirl”). Related to whirr and wharve.

Etymology 2

From Middle English whirl, wherwille, whorwhil, wervel, from Old English hwirfel, hwyrfel (“whirlpool”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwirbil, from Proto-Germanic *hwirbilaz, *hwarbilaz (“swirl, whirl, whirlpool”), equivalent to wharve + -el; and also Old Norse hvirfill (“ring, circle, crown”), whence Danish hvirvel (“cowlick”), Dutch werveling (“whirling, vortex”), German Low German Warvel (“whirl, whirlpool”), German Wirbel (“whirl, whirlpool”).

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