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Whisk

//wɪsk// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A quick, light sweeping motion.

    "With a quick whisk, she swept the cat from the pantry with her broom."

  2. 2
    The card game whist. obsolete, uncountable

    "Trump, noddy, whisk, hole[…]"

  3. 3
    a small short-handled broom used to brush clothes wordnet
  4. 4
    A kitchen utensil, now usually made from stiff wire loops fixed to a handle (and formerly of twigs), used for whipping (or a mechanical device with the same function).

    "He used a whisk to whip up a light and airy souffle."

  5. 5
    a mixer incorporating a coil of wires; used for whipping eggs or cream wordnet
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  1. 6
    A bunch of twigs or hair etc, used as a brush.

    "Peter dipped the whisk in lather and applied it to his face, so he could start shaving."

  2. 7
    A small handheld broom with a small (or no) handle.

    "I used a whisk to sweep the counter, then a push-broom for the floor."

  3. 8
    A plane used by coopers for evening chines.
  4. 9
    A kind of cape, forming part of a woman's dress.

    "My wife in her new lace whiske."

Verb
  1. 1
    To move something with quick light sweeping motions. transitive

    "Vernon whisked the sawdust from his workbench."

  2. 2
    whip with or as if with a wire whisk wordnet
  3. 3
    In cooking, to whip e.g. eggs or cream. transitive

    "The chef prepared to whisk the egg whites for the angel's food cake."

  4. 4
    brush or wipe off lightly wordnet
  5. 5
    To move something rapidly and with no warning. transitive

    "July 3, 1769, Horace Walpole, letter to the Earl of Strafford I beg she would not impale worms, nor whisk carp out of one element into another."

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  1. 6
    move somewhere quickly wordnet
  2. 7
    To move lightly and nimbly. intransitive

    "The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator."

  3. 8
    move quickly and nimbly wordnet
  4. 9
    To move whiskers. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English whisk, borrowed from Old Norse visk, from Proto-Germanic *wiskaz, *wiskō (“bundle of hay, wisp”), from Proto-Indo-European *weys-. Cognates Cognate with Danish visk, Dutch wis, German Wisch, Latin virga (“rod, switch”), viscus (“entrails”), Lithuanian vizgéti (“to tremble”), Czech věchet (“wisp of straw”), Sanskrit वेष्क (veṣka, “noose”). Compare also Old English wiscian (“to plait”), granwisc (“awn”). The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound; compare the same development in whip and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.

Etymology 2

From Middle English whisk, borrowed from Old Norse visk, from Proto-Germanic *wiskaz, *wiskō (“bundle of hay, wisp”), from Proto-Indo-European *weys-. Cognates Cognate with Danish visk, Dutch wis, German Wisch, Latin virga (“rod, switch”), viscus (“entrails”), Lithuanian vizgéti (“to tremble”), Czech věchet (“wisp of straw”), Sanskrit वेष्क (veṣka, “noose”). Compare also Old English wiscian (“to plait”), granwisc (“awn”). The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound; compare the same development in whip and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.

Etymology 3

So called from the rapid action of sweeping the cards off the table after a trick has been won.

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