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Wisp

//wɪsp// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; any slender, flexible structure or group. countable, uncountable

    "A wisp of smoke rose from the candle for a few moments after he blew it out."

  2. 2
    Acronym of wireless internet service provider. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
  3. 3
    a small tuft or lock wordnet
  4. 4
    A whisk, or small broom. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    a flock of snipe wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus. countable, uncountable

    "the wisp that flickers where no foot can tread"

  2. 7
    a small bundle of straw or hay wordnet
  3. 8
    An immeasurable, indefinable essence of life; soul. countable, uncountable

    "“She would get nothing from him, she saw, resentfully. Then some angel of grace lent her a few wisps, which she grasped."

  4. 9
    a small person wordnet
  5. 10
    A flock of snipe. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "They shift their quarters in the early part of the season very suddenly, and if a man hears of a wisp of snipe in any particular place, he must be off at once."

  6. 11
    A disease affecting the feet of cattle. uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To brush or dress, as with a wisp. transitive

    "The very same head of hair, wisp'd, and matted together, would make the most disagreeable figure."

  2. 2
    To rumple. UK, dialectal, obsolete
  3. 3
    To produce a wisp, as of smoke. intransitive

    "To Temple, sitting in the cottonseed-hulls and the corn-cobs, the sound was no louder than the striking of a match: a short, minor sound shutting down the scene, the instant, with a profound finality, completely isolating it, and she sat there, her legs straight before her, her hands limp and palm-up on her lap, looking at Popeye's tight back and the ridges of his coat across his shoulders as he leaned out the door, the pistol behind him, against his flank, wisping thinly along his leg."

  4. 4
    To emit in wisps. transitive

    "It looked warm and rosy-bright inside, with a little chimney wisping smoke, little windows glowing."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English wispe, wyspe, wips, wipse, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *wisp, *wips. Cognate with West Frisian wisp, Dutch wisp (“bundle of hay or straw”), Norwegian bokmål/Swedish/Bornholm Danish visp (“handful or bundle of grass, hay, etc.”). Akin also to Middle Dutch/Middle Low German wispel (“measure of grain”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English wispe, wyspe, wips, wipse, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *wisp, *wips. Cognate with West Frisian wisp, Dutch wisp (“bundle of hay or straw”), Norwegian bokmål/Swedish/Bornholm Danish visp (“handful or bundle of grass, hay, etc.”). Akin also to Middle Dutch/Middle Low German wispel (“measure of grain”).

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