Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter W

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter W - Page 24

Compare: Marysole

Marysole (n.) (Zool.) A large British fluke, or flounder ({Rhombus megastoma); -- called also carter, and whiff.

Whiffed (imp. & p. p.) of Whiff.

Whiffing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Whiff.

Whiff (v. t.) 輕輕地吹送（或吹起）；輕輕地吸入（或噴出） To throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff.

Whiff (v. t.) To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.

Old Empedocles, . . . who, when he leaped into Etna, having a dry, sear body, and light, the smoke took him, and whiffed him up into the moon. -- B. Jonson.

Whiff (v. i.) 輕吹，輕拂 To emit whiffs, as of smoke; to puff.

Whiff (n.) [S1] [+of] （空氣、香菸等的）一吸；（風、煙等的）一陣，一吹，一噴；一陣（微弱的）氣味；一點點 A short light gust of air [syn: puff, puff of air, whiff].

Whiff (n.) A lefteye flounder found in coastal waters from New England to Brazil.

Whiff (n.) A strikeout resulting from the batter swinging at and missing the ball for the third strike.

Whiff (v.) Perceive by inhaling through the nose; "sniff the perfume" [syn: sniff, whiff].

Whiff (v.) Drive or carry as if by a puff of air; "The gust of air whiffed away the clouds."

Whiff (v.) Strike out by swinging and missing the pitch charged as the third.

Whiff (v.) Smoke and exhale strongly; "puff a cigar"; "whiff a pipe" [syn: puff, whiff].

Whiff (v.) Utter with a puff of air; "whiff out a prayer."

Whiffet (n.) 小狗；【美】【口】小人物；無用的人；（風、煙的）一吹，一噴 A little whiff or puff.

Whiffet (n.) A small, young, or unimportant person.

Whiffet (In British English) (n.) [US] An insignificant person.

Whiffet (n.) A little dog.

Whiffing (n.) The act of one who, or that which, whiffs.

Whiffing (n.) A mode of fishing with a hand line for pollack, mackerel, and the like.

Whiffled (imp. & p. p.) of Whiffle.

Whiffling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Whiffle.

Whiffle (v. i.) To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about. -- D?mpier.

Whiffle (v. i.) To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle.

A person of whiffing and unsteady turn of mind can not keep close to a point of controversy. -- I. Watts.

Whiffle (v. t.) To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter. [Obs.] -- Dr. H. More.

Whiffle (v. t.) To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.

Whiffle (n.) A fife or small flute. [Obs.] -- Douce.

Whiffler (n.) One who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a trifler.

Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the chocolate house shall talk of the constitution. -- Swift.

Whiffler (n.) One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper. [Obs.]

Whiffler (n.) An officer who went before procession to clear the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.

Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king, Seems to prepare his way. -- Shak.

Note: "Whifflers, or fifers, generally went first in a procession, from which circumstance the name was transferred to other persons who succeeded to that office, and at length was given to those who went forward merely to clear the way for the procession. . . . In the city of London, young freemen, who march at the head of their proper companies on the Lord Mayor's day, sometimes with flags, were called whifflers, or bachelor whifflers, not because they cleared the way, but because they went first, as whifflers did." -- Nares.

Whiffler (n.) (Zool.) The golden-eye. [Local, U. S.]

Whiffletree (n.) Same as Whippletree.

Whiffletree (n.) A crossbar that is attached to the traces of a draft horse and to the vehicle or implement that the horse is pulling [syn: whiffletree, whippletree, swingletree].

Whig (n.) Acidulated whey, sometimes mixed with buttermilk and sweet herbs, used as a cooling beverage. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.

Whig (n.) (Eng. Politics) One of a political party which grew up in England in the seventeenth century, in the reigns of Charles I. and II., when great contests existed respecting the royal prerogatives and the rights of the people. Those who supported the king in his high claims were called Tories, and the advocates of popular rights, of parliamentary power over the crown, and of toleration to Dissenters, were, after 1679, called Whigs. The terms Liberal and Radical have now generally superseded Whig in English politics. See the note under Tory.

Whig (n.) (Amer. Hist.) A friend and supporter of the American Revolution; -- opposed to Tory, and Royalist.

Whig (n.) (Amer. Hist.) One of the political party in the United States from about 1829 to 1856, opposed in politics to the Democratic party.

Whig (a.) Of or pertaining to the Whigs.

Whig (n.) A member of the political party that urged social reform in 18th and 19th century England; was the opposition party to the Tories.

Whig (n.) A supporter of the American Revolution

Whig (n.) member of the Whig Party that existed in the United States before the American Civil War.

Whiggamore (n.) A Whig; -- a cant term applied in contempt to Scotch Presbyterians. [Scot.] -- Sir W. Scott.

Whiggarchy (n.) Government by Whigs. [Cont] -- Swift.

Whiggery (n.) The principles or practices of the Whigs; Whiggism.

Whiggish (a.) Of or pertaining to Whigs; partaking of, or characterized by, the principles of Whigs.

Whiggishly (adv.) In a Whiggish manner.

Whiggism (n.) The principles of the Whigs.

Whigling (n.) A petty or inferior Whig; -- used in contempt. -- Spectator.

While (n.) Space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a time; as, one while we thought him innocent. "All this while." -- Shak.

This mighty queen may no while endure. -- Chaucer.

Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while, and tells the jest without the smile. -- Coleridge.

I will go forth and breathe the air a while. -- Longfellow.

While (n.) That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]

Satan . . . cast him how he might quite her while. -- Chaucer.

At whiles, At times; at intervals.

And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim Powers that we dread. -- J. H. Newman.

The while, The whiles, In or during the time that; meantime; while. -- Tennyson.

Within a while, In a short time; soon.

Worth while, Worth the time which it requires; worth the time and pains; hence, worth the expense; as, it is not always worth while for a man to prosecute for small debts.

Whiled (imp. & p. p.) of While.

Whiling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of While.

While (v. t.) To cause to pass away pleasantly or without irksomeness or disgust; to spend or pass; -- usually followed by away.

The lovely lady whiled the hours away. -- Longfellow.

While (v. i.) To loiter. [R.] -- Spectator.

While (conj.) During the time that; as long as; whilst; at the same time that; as, while I write, you sleep. "While I have time and space." -- Chaucer.

Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to overload it. -- I. Watts.

While (conj.) Hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though; whereas.

While as, While that, During or at the time that. [Obs.]

While (prep.) Until; till. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight. -- Beau. & Fl.

While (n.) A period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition; "he was here for a little while"; "I need to rest for a piece"; "a spell of good weather"; "a patch of bad weather" [syn: while, piece, spell, patch].

Whilere (adv.) A little while ago; recently; just now; erewhile. [Obs.]

Helpeth me now as I did you whilere. -- Chaucer.

He who, with all heaven's heraldry, whilere Entered the world. -- Milton.

Whiles (n.) Meanwhile; meantime. [R.]

The good knight whiles humming to himself the lay of some majored troubadour. -- Sir. W. Scott.

Whiles (n.) sometimes; at times. [Scot.] -- Sir W. Scott.

The whiles. See under While, n.

Whiles (conj.) During the time that; while. [Archaic] -- Chaucer. Fuller.

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him. -- Matt. v. 25.

Whilk (n.) A kind of mollusk, a whelk.

Whilk (n.) The scoter.

Whilk (pron.) Which.

Whilom (n.) Formerly; once; of old; erewhile; at times.

Whilst (adv.) While.

Whim (n.) (Zool.) The European widgeon. [Prov. Eng.]

Whim (n.) [C, U] 奇想，怪念頭；幻想；突然的念頭，一時的興致 A sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice.

Let every man enjoy his whim. -- Churchill.

Whim (n.) (Mining) A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes; -- called also whim gin, and whimsey.

Whim gin (Mining), A whim. See Whim, 2.

Whim shaft (Mining), A shaft through which ore, water, etc., is raised from a mine by means of a whim.

Syn: Freak; caprice; whimsey; fancy.

Usage: Whim, Freak, Caprice. Freak denotes an impulsive, inconsiderate change of mind, as by a child or a lunatic. Whim is a mental eccentricity due to peculiar processes or habits of thought. Caprice is closely allied in meaning to freak, but implies mor definitely a quality of willfulness or wantonness.

Whim (v. i.) To be subject to, or indulge in, whims; to be whimsical, giddy, or freakish. [R.] -- Congreve.

Whim (n.) A sudden desire; "he bought it on an impulse" [syn: {caprice}, {impulse}, {whim}].

Whim (n.) An odd or fanciful or capricious idea; "the theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories"; "he had a whimsy about flying to the moon"; "whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy it" [syn: {notion}, {whim}, {whimsy}, {whimsey}].

Whimbrel (n.) (Zool.) Any one of several species of small curlews, especially the European species (Numenius phaeopus), called also Jack curlew, half curlew, stone curlew, and tang whaup. See Illustration in Appendix.

Hudsonian or, Eskimo, whimbreal, the Hudsonian curlew.

Whimling (n.) One given to whims; hence, a weak, childish person; a child.

Go, whimling, and fetch two or three grating loaves. -- Beau. & Fl.

Whimmy (a.) Full of whims; whimsical.

The study of Rabbinical literature either finds a man whimmy or makes him so. -- Coleridge.

Whimper (v. t.) 啜泣地說，抽噎地說 To utter in alow, whining tone.

Whimpered (imp. & p. p.) of Whimper.

Whimpering (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Whimper.

Whimper (v. i.) 啜泣，抽噎；嗚咽；（狗等）低吠；發抱怨聲 To cry with a low, whining, broken voice; to whine; to complain; as, a child whimpers.

Was there ever yet preacher but there were gainsayers that spurned, that winced, that whimpered against him? -- Latimer.

Whimper (v. t.) To utter in alow, whining tone.

Whimper (n.) A low, whining, broken cry; a low, whining sound, expressive of complaint or grief.

Whimper (n.) A complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way [syn: whimper, whine].

Whimper (v.) Cry weakly or softly; "she wailed with pain" [syn: wail, whimper, mewl, pule].

Whimperer (n.) One who whimpers.

Whimple (v. t.) See Wimple.

Whimple (v. i.) To whiffle; to veer. Whimsey

Whimseys (n. pl. ) of Whimsy.

Whimsies (n. pl. ) of Whimsy.

Whimsey (n.) Alt. of Whimsy.

Whimsy (n.) A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit. "The whimsies of poets and painters." -- Ray.

Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy. -- Swift.

Mistaking the whimseys of a feverish brain for the calm revelation of truth. -- Bancroft.

Whimsy (n.) (Mining) A whim.

Whimsey (v. t.) To fill with whimseys, or whims; to make fantastic; to craze. [R.]

To have a man's brain whimsied with his wealth. -- J. Fletcher.

Compare: Whim

Whim (n.) [U] [C] 奇想，怪念頭；幻想；突然的念頭，一時的興致 A sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice.

Let every man enjoy his whim. -- Churchill.

Whim (n.) (Mining) A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes; -- called also whim gin, and whimsey.

Whim gin (Mining), A whim. See Whim, 2.

Whim shaft (Mining), A shaft through which ore, water, etc., is raised from a mine by means of a whim.

Syn: Freak; caprice; whimsey; fancy.

Usage: Whim, Freak, Caprice. Freak denotes an impulsive, inconsiderate change of mind, as by a child or a lunatic. Whim is a mental eccentricity due to peculiar processes or habits of thought. Caprice is closely allied in meaning to freak, but implies more definitely a quality of willfulness or wantonness.

Whimsey (n.) An odd or fanciful or capricious idea; "the theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories"; "he had a whimsy about flying to the moon"; "whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy it" [syn: notion, whim, whimsy, whimsey].

Whimsey (n.) The trait of acting unpredictably and more from whim or caprice than from reason or judgment; "I despair at the flightiness and whimsicality of my memory" [syn: flightiness, arbitrariness, whimsicality, whimsy, whimsey, capriciousness].

Whimsical (a.) 想入非非的，異想天開的；怪誕的，古怪的 Full of, or characterized by, whims; actuated by a whim; having peculiar notions; queer; strange; freakish. "A whimsical insult." -- Macaulay.

My neighbors call me whimsical. -- Addison.

Whimsical (a.) Odd or fantastic in appearance; quaintly devised; fantastic. "A whimsical chair." -- Evelyn.

Syn: Quaint; capricious; fanciful; fantastic.

Whimsicality (n.) The quality or state of being whimsical; whimsicalness.

Whimsically (adv.) In a whimsical manner; freakishly.

Whimsicalness (n.) The quality or state of being whimsical; freakishness; whimsical disposition.

Whimsey, Whimsy (n.; pl. Whimseysor Whimsies.) [See Whim.] A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit. "The whimsies of poets and painters." -- Ray.

Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy. -- Swift.

Mistaking the whimseys of a feverish brain for the calm revelation of truth. -- Bancroft.

Whimsey, Whimsy (n.; pl. Whimseysor Whimsies.) (Mining) A whim.

Whimsy (n.) A whimsey.

Whimsy (n.) An odd or fanciful or capricious idea; "the theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories"; "he had a whimsy about flying to the moon"; "whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy it" [syn: notion, whim, whimsy, whimsey].

Whimsy (n.) The trait of acting unpredictably and more from whim or caprice than from reason or judgment; "I despair at the flightiness and whimsicality of my memory" [syn: flightiness, arbitrariness, whimsicality, whimsy, whimsey, capriciousness].

Whimwham (n.) A whimsical thing; an odd device; a trifle; a trinket; a gimcrack. [R.]

They'll pull ye all to pieces for your whimwhams. -- Bear. & Fl.

Whimwham (n.) A whim, or whimsey; a freak.

Compare: Furze

Furze (n.) (Bot.) 【植】荊豆（花） A thorny evergreen shrub ({Ulex Europ[ae]us), with beautiful yellow flowers, very common upon the plains and hills of Great Britain; -- called also gorse, and whin. The dwarf furze is Ulex nanus.

Whin (n.) (Bot.) Gorse; furze. See Furze. Through the whins, and by the cairn. -- Burns.

Whin (n.) Woad-waxed. -- Gray.

Whin (n.) Same as Whinstone. [Prov. Eng.]

Moor whin or Petty whin (Bot.), A low prickly shrub ({Genista Anglica) common in Western Europe.

Whin bruiser, A machine for cutting and bruising whin, or furze, to feed cattle on.

Whin Sparrow (Zool.), the hedge sparrow. [Prov. Eng.]

Whin Thrush (Zool.), the redwing. [Prov. Eng.]

Woad-waxen (Bot.) A leguminous plant ({Genista tinctoria) of Europe and Russian Asia, and adventitious in America; -- called also greenwood, greenweed, dyer's greenweed, and whin, wood-wash, wood-wax, and wood-waxen.

Whin (n.) Very spiny and dense evergreen shrub with fragrant golden- yellow flowers; common throughout western Europe [syn: gorse, furze, whin, Irish gorse, Ulex europaeus].

Whin (n.) Small Eurasian shrub having clusters of yellow flowers that yield a dye; common as a weed in Britain and the United States; sometimes grown as an ornamental [syn: woodwaxen, dyer's greenweed, dyer's-broom, dyeweed, greenweed,whin, woadwaxen, Genista tinctoria].

Whin (n.) Any of various hard colored rocks (especially rocks consisting of chert or basalt) [syn: whinstone, whin].

Whinberry (n.) (Bot.) The English bilberry; -- so called because it grows on moors among the whins, or furze. -- Dr. Prior.

Whinberry (n.) Erect European blueberry having solitary flowers and blue- black berries [syn: bilberry, whortleberry, whinberry, blaeberry, Viccinium myrtillus]

Whinchat (n.) (Zool.) A small warbler ({Pratincola rubetra) common in Europe; -- called also whinchacker, whincheck, whin-clocharet.

Compare: Chat

Chat (v. i.) [imp. & p. p. Chatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Chatting.] 閒談，聊天 [（+about/ away/ on）] To talk in a light and familiar manner; to converse without form or ceremony; to gossip. -- Shak.

To chat a while on their adventures. -- Dryden.

Syn: To talk; chatter; gossip; converse.

Chat (v. t.) 【英】【口】與……攀談，與……搭訕；與……調情 [（+up）] To talk of. [Obs.]

Chat (n.) 閒談，聊天 [C] [U] [（+about/ with）] Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip.

Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. -- Pope.

Chat (n.) (Zool.) 鳴禽（尤指金鶯，野鶲）[C] A bird of the genus Icteria, allied to the warblers, in America. The best known species are the yellow-breasted chat ({Icteria viridis), and the long-tailed chat ({Icteria longicauda). In Europe the name is given to several birds of the family Saxicolid[ae], as the stonechat, and whinchat.

Bush chat. (Zool.) See under Bush.

Chat (n.) A twig, cone, or little branch. See Chit.

Chat (n.) pl. (Mining) Small stones with ore.

Chat potatoes, Small potatoes, such as are given to swine. [Local.]

Chat (n.) An informal conversation [syn: chat, confab, confabulation, schmooze, schmoose].

Chat (n.) Birds having a chattering call [syn: New World chat, chat].

Chat (n.) Songbirds having a chattering call [syn: Old World chat, chat].

Chat (v.) Talk socially without exchanging too much information; "the men were sitting in the cafe and shooting the breeze" [syn: chew the fat, shoot the breeze, chat, confabulate, confab, chitchat, chit-chat, chatter, chaffer, natter, gossip, jaw, claver, visit].

Chat, () Any system that allows any number of logged-in users to have a typed, real-time, on-line conversation via a network.

The medium of chat is descended from talk, but the terms (and the media) have been distinct since at least the early 1990s. talk is prototypically for a small number of people, generally with no provision for channels. In chat systems, however, there are many channels in which any number of people can talk; and users may send private (one-to-one) messages.

Some early chat systems (in use 1998) include IRC, ICQ and Palace. More recent alternatives include MSN Messenger and Google Talk.

Chat systems have given rise to a distinctive style combining the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen to help with this.

The conventions of chat systems include special items of jargon, generally abbreviations meant to save typing, which are not used orally. E.g. BCNU, BBL, BTW, CUL, FWIW, FYA, FYI, IMHO, OT, OTT, TNX, WRT, WTF, WTH, , <gr&d> </gr&d>, BBL, HHOK, NHOH, ROTFL, AFK, b4, TTFN, TTYL, OIC, re.

Much of the chat style is identical to (and probably derived from) Morse code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the 1920s, and there is, not surprisingly, some overlap with TDD jargon. Most of the jargon was in use in talk systems. Many of these expressions are also common in Usenet news and electronic mail and some have seeped into popular culture, as with emoticons.

The MUD community uses a mixture of emoticons, a few of the more natural of the old-style talk mode abbreviations, and some of the "social" list above. In general, though, MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists. Abbreviations specific to MUDs include: FOAD, ppl (people), THX (thanks), UOK? (are you OK?).

Some BIFFisms (notably the variant spelling "d00d") and aspects of ASCIIbonics appear to be passing into wider use among some subgroups of MUDders and are already pandemic on chat systems in general.