whiffle
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”,[1] as whiff + -le (“(frequentative)”) and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈ(h)wɪfl̩/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪfəl
Noun
[edit]whiffle (plural whiffles)
- A short blow or gust.
- (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine) A male haircut done with electric clippers.
- (obsolete) Something small or insignificant; a trifle.
- (obsolete) A fife or small flute.
Verb
[edit]whiffle (third-person singular simple present whiffles, present participle whiffling, simple past and past participle whiffled)
- To blow a short gust.
- To waffle, talk aimlessly.
- (UK) To waste time.
- To travel quickly with an accompanying wind-like sound; whizz, whistle along.
- (ornithology, of a bird) To descend rapidly from a height once the decision to land has been made, involving fast side-slipping first one way and then the other.
- (intransitive) To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
- 1699, William Dampier, “Of Storms”, in Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, part (please specify |part=I to III), page 61:
- [S]ometimes it may happen that ſuch a Cloud may appear ſeveral Mornings and Evenings, and we may not feel the effects of it, or but very little; yet we always provide againſt it; for a North never comes without ſuch a foreboding Cloud. But if the VVinds also vvhiffle about to the South, with fair flattering VVeather, it never fails.
- (transitive) To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
- To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle.
- 1741, I[saac] Watts, “Rules of Improvement by Conversation”, in The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC, paragraph XXVII, page 144:
- [A] Perſon of whiffling and unſteady Turn of Mind, who cannot keep cloſe to a Point of Controverſy, […]
- To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter.
- 1669, Henry More, “The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Church of Laodicea”, in An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches; […], London: […] James Flesher, →OCLC, paragraph 13, page 163:
- This is a plain and obvious ſenſe of this Promiſe, […] againſt ſuch as would whiffle away all theſe Truths by reſolving them into a mere moral Allegorie.
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “whiffle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -le
- English onomatopoeias
- English 2-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/ɪfəl
- Rhymes:English/ɪfəl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
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- Rhode Island English
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- en:Ornithology
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