whirligig
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English whirlegigge; equivalent to whirl (noun or verb) + gig (“a top”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]whirligig (plural whirligigs)
- Anything that whirls or spins around, such as a toy top or a merry-go-round.
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 275, columns 1–2:
- Why ſome are borne great, ſome atchieue greatneſſe, and ſome haue greatneſſe throwne vpon them. I was one ſir, in this Enterlude, one ſir Topas ſir, but that’s all one: By the Lo[r]d Foole, I am not mad: but do you remember, Madam, why laugh you at ſuch a barren raſcall, and you ſmile not he’s gag’d: and thus the whirlegigge of time, brings in his reuenges.
- A device incorporating spinning, wind-driven propellers or pinwheels, used as whimsical outdoor decoration in a garden or on a porch.
- A whirligig beetle.
- (historical) A device for punishing prisoners, comprising a wooden cage that rapidly spins around to induce nausea.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]anything that whirls or spins around, such as a toy
See also
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English compound terms
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with historical senses
- en:Adephagan beetles
- en:Rotation
- en:Torture