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whirl

Pronunciation: /wɜːl/

The English word “whirl” has 10 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly.
  2. To have a sensation of spinning or reeling.
  3. To make something or someone whirl.
  4. To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch.

noun

  1. An act of whirling.
  2. Something that whirls, such as a whirlwind.
  3. A confused tumult.
  4. A rapid series of events.
  5. Dizziness or giddiness.
  6. A brief experiment or trial.

Etymology

From 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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.