whirlingn.
/ˈhwəːlɪŋ/ The action of whirl v.
1. A turning (swiftly) round; (rapid) rotation, revolution, or circling movement: spec. of air or water, as in a whirlwind or eddy; also of persons in a dance, etc.spec. in Mechanics (quot. 1895): see whirl v. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [noun] > whirling
whirling1423
vertigo1851
whirl-about1857
burling1874
1423 Kingis Quair clxv Sum were slungin, Be quhirlyng of the quhele, vnto the ground.
?c1425 (c1390) G. Chaucer Fortune 11 So mochel hath yit thy whirlynge vp and down I-tawht me.
1496 Treat. Fysshynge wyth Angle in Bk. St. Albans (rev. ed.) sig. hv Yf that there be a manere whyrlynge of water.
1582 Queen Marguerite of Navarre's Godlie Medit. (new ed.) in T. Bentley et al. Monument of Matrones ii. 3 This the same vnknowne gift or whurling in my hart, doth bring mee a new desire.
1616 B. Holyday tr. Persius Sat. v. 138 A base horse-keeper..whom if's Master turne about, I' th' moment of the Whirling he goes out.
1633 T. James Strange Voy. 9 We came amongst the most strangest whirlings of the sea.
1636 J. Trussell in Ann. Dubrensia sig. B2 The countrie Wakes, and whirlings have appeer'd..like forraine pastimes.
1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. i. ix. 170 The Sholes probably caused some whirling about of the Tide.
1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. III. 89 The rapid, and as he thought perilous, whirling of the..vehicle.
1835 T. Hood United Family ix We none of us that whirling [sc. the waltz] love, Which both our parents disapprove.
1838 N. Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1868) I. 187 Where the whirlings of the stream had left the marks of its eddies in the solid marble.
1895 Philos. Trans. 1894 (Royal Soc.) A. 185 i. 279 The Whirling and Vibration of Shafts.
2. Giddiness, vertigo.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > vertigo > [noun]
dizzinessc900
swimeOE
swinglingc1000
turningc1230
turngiddya1382
giddiness1398
turngiddiness1398
vertiginyc1400
turn-sick?c1450
swindling1527
vertigo1528
swimming1530
swindle1559
turnsickness1559
duseling1561
whirling1561
turn-sick giddiness1577
megrim1595
vertiginousness1599
whimsya1627
tiegoa1640
lightheadedness1645
swimmering1650
swim1817
swirling1825
swimminess1894
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 42 The same driueth away..the whirling in the head.
1892 G. Meredith Empty Purse in Poems 107 A whirling seized thy head.
3. Hurling, flinging.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > [noun]
warpinga1150
throwinga1325
casting1557
whirling1579
jaculation1608
tossing1711
1579 R. Rice Inuect. Vices B iij The whorlyng of the Pottes about the house, the Cardes into the fire.
4. Misused for hurling n. 2a.
ΚΠ
a1721 M. Prior Ess. Opinion in Wks. (1907) II. 201 Bodmin or Truro shal break more Bones at a Whirling in Cornwal than the ablest Surgeon in London shal be able to set.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
whirling speed n.
ΚΠ
1895 Philos. Trans. 1894 (Royal Soc.) A. 185 283 The whirling speed was taken to be at the commencement of whirl, that is to say, the lowest speed at which the shaft definitely whirled.
C2.
whirling disease n. a disease of trout caused by the parasitic sporozoan Myxosoma cerebralis, which affects the balance of the fish it attacks.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of fish > [noun]
fungus1880
salmon disease1880
furunculosis1912
white spot1928
columnaris1945
whirling disease1961
UDN1968
1961 J. I. Lengy et al. tr. A. V. Uspenskaya in G. P. Petrusheveski Parasites & Dis. Fish 47 One of the most dangerous of the known parasitic diseases is the so-called ‘whirling disease’.
1962 Spec. Sci. Rep. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service No. 427. 2/2 Whirling disease appeared in brook trout at the Benner Spring Fish Research Station..in 1956.
1982 Times 12 Feb. 4/5 Whirling disease..is a parasite which gets into the skull of trout fry, causing a fish to lose its balance so that it swims round and round until it eventually dies.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
whirlingadj.
a. That whirls, in various senses of the verb; turning (rapidly) round, rotating, revolving, circling (swiftly); eddying; moving impetuously, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [adjective] > whirling
whirling1382
whirligigging1598
burling1874
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > swift movement in specific manner > [adjective] > moving with impetuous speed or headlong
ranka1250
whirling1382
hurlingc1400
whithering1513
headling?1518
vehement1528
heady1562
headlongc1565
precipitant1649
precipitate1654
torrent1667
precipitous1681
tearing1765
torrentuous1840
whirlwind1865
torrential1877
Gadarene1895
rocketing1952
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 2 Pet. ii. 17 Cloudis..driuun with whirlinge wijndis.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 51 Woodnesse of..whirlynge water casteþ vp..grete hepes of grauel.
c1450 Mirk's Festial 138 What by þondyr and by layte,..by whyrlyng-wynde, by mystes.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 12v Yf there be any whirlynge plat in the water, the mouynge ceasethe when it commethe at the whyrlynge plat.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 90v The blinde goddesse Fortune, with her doble visage, and whirlynge whele.
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xix. 79 Children when they had their whirling gigges vnder the deuotion of their scourges.
1622 J. Taylor Farewell to Tower-bottles A 2 b The whirling wheele of fickle Fate.
1630 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. §xiii That whirling Globe of earth.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis x, in tr. Virgil Wks. 535 A whirling Dart he sent.
1762 W. Cowper To Miss Macartney 34 Some Alpine mountain..Thus braves the whirling blast.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1296 The whirling public so blindly follows fashionable caprice in the choice of a carriage.
1872 J. Yeats Techn. Hist. Commerce 273 The whirling and complicated machinery.
1885 T. P. Hughes Dict. Islam 118/1 [The Maulawīyah] are called by Europeans..the ‘dancing’, or ‘whirling’ darweshes.
b. figurative.
ΚΠ
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 137 These are but wild and wherling [1604 whurling, 1623 hurling] words, my Lord.
1631 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. (ed. 2) (2nd state) §cxl Those hurrying and whirling judgements of God.
1684 T. Creech tr. Horace Odes iii. xxx, in tr. Horace Odes, Satyrs, & Epist. (new ed.) 126 Nor whirling Time, nor flight of Years.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxxvi. 357 I cannot say what was in my whirling thoughts.
1855 Milman in Mem. (1900) 189 Quiet, though in the midst of the whirling city.
Compounds
Special collocations:
whirling blue n. = whirling dun n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of
moor flylOE
drake-flya1450
dub-flya1450
dun cut1496
dun fly1496
louper1496
red fly1616
moorish fly1635
palmer1653
palmer fly1653
red hackle1653
red palmer1653
shell-fly1653
orange fly1662
blackfly1669
dun1676
dun hackle1676
hackle1676
mayfly1676
peacock fly1676
thorn-tree fly1676
turkey-fly1676
violet-fly1676
whirling dun1676
badger fly1681
greenfly1686
moorish brown1689
prime dun1696
sandfly1700
grey midge1724
whirling blue1747
dun drake?1758
death drake1766
hackle fly1786
badger1787
blue1787
brown-fly1787
camel-brown1787
spinner1787
midge1799
night-fly1799
thorn-fly1799
turkey1799
withy-fly1799
grayling fly1811
sun fly1820
cock-a-bondy1835
brown moth1837
bunting-lark fly1837
governor1837
water-hen hackle1837
Waterloo fly1837
coachman1839
soldier palmer1839
blue jay1843
red tag1850
canary1855
white-tip1856
spider1857
bumble1859
doctor1860
ibis1863
Jock Scott1866
eagle1867
highlander1867
jay1867
John Scott1867
judge1867
parson1867
priest1867
snow-fly1867
Jack Scott1874
Alexandra1875
silver doctor1875
Alexandra fly1882
grackle1894
grizzly queen1894
heckle-fly1897
Zulu1898
thunder and lightning1910
streamer1919
Devon1924
peacock1950
1747 R. Bowlker Art Angling 73 The little Whirling Blue... This Fly is only to be Fish'd with..in warm Weather.
whirling dun n. names of artificial flies used in angling.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of
moor flylOE
drake-flya1450
dub-flya1450
dun cut1496
dun fly1496
louper1496
red fly1616
moorish fly1635
palmer1653
palmer fly1653
red hackle1653
red palmer1653
shell-fly1653
orange fly1662
blackfly1669
dun1676
dun hackle1676
hackle1676
mayfly1676
peacock fly1676
thorn-tree fly1676
turkey-fly1676
violet-fly1676
whirling dun1676
badger fly1681
greenfly1686
moorish brown1689
prime dun1696
sandfly1700
grey midge1724
whirling blue1747
dun drake?1758
death drake1766
hackle fly1786
badger1787
blue1787
brown-fly1787
camel-brown1787
spinner1787
midge1799
night-fly1799
thorn-fly1799
turkey1799
withy-fly1799
grayling fly1811
sun fly1820
cock-a-bondy1835
brown moth1837
bunting-lark fly1837
governor1837
water-hen hackle1837
Waterloo fly1837
coachman1839
soldier palmer1839
blue jay1843
red tag1850
canary1855
white-tip1856
spider1857
bumble1859
doctor1860
ibis1863
Jock Scott1866
eagle1867
highlander1867
jay1867
John Scott1867
judge1867
parson1867
priest1867
snow-fly1867
Jack Scott1874
Alexandra1875
silver doctor1875
Alexandra fly1882
grackle1894
grizzly queen1894
heckle-fly1897
Zulu1898
thunder and lightning1910
streamer1919
Devon1924
peacock1950
1676 C. Cotton Compl. Angler vii. 61 About the twelfth of this Month [Apr.] comes in the Flie call'd the whirling Dun.
whirling-board n. = whirling-table n. (a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > centrifugal > instrument demonstrating
whirling-board1764
whirling-table1764
whirling-machine1843
1764 J. Ferguson Lect. Select Subj. ii. 19 Which weight..will draw the ball from the edge of the whirling-board to its center.
whirling chair n. a chair contrived to rotate rapidly, used in the treatment of insane patients.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > rotating chair
whirling chair1799
1799 M. Underwood Treat. Dis. Children (ed. 4) II. 50 Exciting vertigo by placing the patient in a whirling chair.
whirling-machine n. = whirling-table n. (a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > centrifugal > instrument demonstrating
whirling-board1764
whirling-table1764
whirling-machine1843
1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 326/1 Whirling-machine is an apparatus..for the purpose of determining the resistance of the air.
whirling plant n. the ‘telegraph-plant’, Desmodium gyrans (see telegraph plant n. at telegraph n. Compounds 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > Asian or Indian
moving plant1787
elephant's foot1789
Indian lettuce1791
Sonerila1846
telegraph plant1856
whirling plant1866
mitsuba1890
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1232/1 Whirling Plant, Desmodium gyrans.
whirling-table n. (a) a machine consisting essentially of a table contrived to revolve rapidly, used for experiments or demonstrations in dynamics or other branches of science; (b) a horizontally rotating disk in a potter's lathe, carrying a mould which shapes the inside of a plate, cup, or other circular piece of ware, while the outside is shaped by a templet above it.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > pottery manufacturing equipment > [noun] > potter's lathe > horizontal wheel of
wheela1382
potter's wheel1609
whirling-table1764
throwing table1855
slow wheel1925
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > centrifugal > instrument demonstrating
whirling-board1764
whirling-table1764
whirling-machine1843
1764 J. Ferguson Lect. Select Subj. ii. 18 The whirling-table is a machine contrived for shewing experiments of this nature.
1830 H. Kater & D. Lardner Treat. Mechanics viii. 100 An apparatus called a whirling table..for the purpose of exhibiting illustrations of the laws of centrifugal force.
1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 473/1 The workman stands at a bench provided with a whirling-table.., which has its motion given by a horizontal pulley or jigger.
1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone (new ed.) 262 An attachment to the whirling-table for projecting sound-curves upon a screen.
Derivatives
ˈwhirlingly adv. with whirling movement (also figurative).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [adverb] > with whirling movement
whirligig1598
whirlingly1812
a-whirl1883
1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair ii. lviii. 46 As they trip it whirlingly.
1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail viii. 60 The forces of nature..so whirlingly contemptuous of puny human effort.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1423adj.1382