/wɜːl/, /ʍɜːl/, /(h)wɝl/
OriginFrom 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.
- intransitiveTo rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly.
“The dancer whirled across the stage, stopped, and whirled around to face the audience.”
“The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.”
- intransitiveTo have a sensation of spinning or reeling.
“My head is whirling after all that drink.”
“My brained ^([sic]) whirled as he went on, but yet there was a fearful impression that the worst was not told.”
- transitiveTo make something or someone whirl.
“The dancer whirled his partner round on her toes.”
“He whirls his sword around without delay.”
- transitiveTo remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch.
“See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels, / That whirled the prophet up at Chebar flood.”
“To-night the winds begin to rise
And roar from yonder dropping day:
The last red leaf is whirl’d away,
The rooks are blown about the skies; […]”
“The passionate heart of the poet is whirl’d into folly.”
- An act of whirling.
“She gave the top a whirl and it spun across the floor.”
- Something that whirls, such as a whirlwind.
- A confused tumult.
- A rapid series of events.
“My life is one social whirl.”
- Dizziness or giddiness.
“My mind was in a whirl.”
- informal(usually following “give”) A brief experiment or trial.
“OK, let's give it a whirl.”
Formswhirls(present, singular, third-person) · whirling(participle, present) · whirled(participle, past) · whirled(past) · whirls(plural)