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▪ I. whiffler1 Obs. exc. Hist.|ˈhwɪflə(r)|
Forms: 6 viffleur, wyffler, wyff-, wiffeler, wyfler, weffler, 6–7 wiffler, whiffeler, 6–8 wifler, 7 whyfler, 7–8 whifler, 6– whiffler.
[f. wifle javelin, axe + -er1; the spelling with wh is prob. due to association with whiff and whiffle v.1]
One of a body of attendants armed with a javelin, battle-axe, sword, or staff, and wearing a chain, employed to keep the way clear for a procession or at some public spectacle.
Whifflers formed a regular part of the Corporation procession at Norwich till 1835; they were employed also on 11 Sept. 1848, when the then Duke of Cambridge attended the triennial musical festival.
1539in Archaeologia XXXII. 33 The chamberlayn & councellors of the cytye, & the aldermens deputyes whiche were assigned to be wyffelers on horsebacke, were all yn cotes of whyte damaske..wt great chaynes abowte theyre necks, & propre javilyns or battle axes yn theyre hands... The wyffelers on fote were iiij. C propre lyght persones apparellyd yn whyte sylke or buffe jerkyns,..every man havyng a slaugh sworde or a javelyn to kepe the people yn araye, wt chaynes abowte theyre necks. 1544in Rymer Foedera (1719) XV. 53 [At the King's departure from Calais] Furst, the Drommes and Viffleurs, then the Trompets, then [etc.]. 1544in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, XIX. ii. 305 The captain of the Spaniards..asketh allowance for the wages of himself, his petty captain, his standard bearer, drum, fife, wifler, surgeon and priest. 1556J. Heywood Spider & F. lii. v, Drums, fiffes, flags, and wiflers. 1560–1in Old City Acc. Bk. (Archæol. Jrnl. XLIII), Payde for iij staves ffor wefflers. 1599Shakes. Hen. V v. Chorus 12 The deep-mouth'd Sea, Which like a mightie Whiffler 'fore the King, Seemes to prepare his way. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiii. 50 They..were..scornefull toward particulars, which their manner was to vse..as..Sargeants and Wifflers..to make way..for their opinions. 1618Bp. Hall Righteous Mammon Wks. (1625) 701 Some vaine whiffler, that is proud of a borrowed chaine. 1641Milton Animadv. iv. 30 His former transition was in the faire about the Jugglers, now he is at the Pageants among the Whifflers. a1658Cleveland Poems, etc. (1677) 112 First as a Whifler before the show enter Stamford, one that trod the Stage with the first, travers'd his ground, made a Leg and Exit. 1707E. Ward Hud. Rediv. vi. II. 23 The Colours that their Whifflers wear, And diff'rent Ensigns that they bear. 1712Addison Spect. No. 536 ⁋5 Our fine young Ladies..retain in their Service..as great a Number as they can of supernumerary..Fellows, which they use like Whiflers. 1787Grose Prov. Gloss., Whifflers, men who make way for the corporation of Norwich, by flourishing their swords.
b. transf. A swaggerer, braggadocio.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 113 Yet another place of S. Paule out of the whiche this wylde wiffler may rushe upon us with his leaden dagger. 1607Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe ii. i, Your right whiffler..hangs himselfe in Saint Martins, and not in Cheape-side. 1644Featley Levites Scourge To Rdr., They fight..rather like whifflers with vizards on their faces. 1881Shorthouse John Inglesant ix, A motley company of mummers, masquers, fantastic phantoms, whifflers, thieves, rufflers. 1889‘Q’ Splendid Spur xiii, The crew of gipsies, whifflers, mountebanks, fortune-tellers.
¶ The sense ‘piper, fifer’ found in Dicts. from Kersey's ed. of Phillips (1706) onwards is baseless.
▪ II. whiffler2|ˈhwɪflə(r)|
[f. whiffle v.1 + -er1.]
†1. A smoker of tobacco. Obs. (Cf. whiffer.)
1617Middleton & Rowley Fair Quarrel iv. i, How likest thou this, whiffler? 1836Hor. Smith Tin Trump. 117 So may we allow Vesuvius and Etna to smoke, without conceding that privilege to every puny whiffler.
2. A trifler; an insignificant or contemptible fellow (cf. whiffling ppl. a.1 3); also, a shifty or evasive person.
1659Lady Alimony v. iv, Such Whifflers are below my scorn, and beneath my spite. 1675Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 279 Here are every year abundance of Whiflers in those scraps of learning. 1678H. More in Glanvill Sadducismus Postscript (1681) 45 O the impudent profaneness..of perverse shufflers and whifflers. a1745Swift Public Absurd. Eng. Wks. 1841 II. 311/1 It is a common topic of satire, which you will hear..from the mouths..of every whiffler in office. 1809–12M. Edgeworth Absentee iv, He was not a whiffler to stand upon ceremony about disturbing a gentleman in his last moments. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 187 These metaphysical whifflers draw no blood. 1896Advance (Chicago) 25 June 935/2 [Giving the Gospel message] requires single-mindedness; no whiffler can succeed.
†3. A flag. Obs. rare. (Cf. whiff n.1 7.)
1759Durand Mem. Capt. Thurot (Percy Soc.) 28 The commodore and second vessel carried white whifflers or pendants forward.
4. The whistlewing or golden-eye duck, Clangula glaucion. local U.S.
1888G. Trumbull Names of Birds 79. |