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WHIRLING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of rotating in a circle or spiral
Synonyms:
gyration; whirling
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("whirling" is a kind of...):
rotary motion; rotation (the act of rotating as if on an axis)
Derivation:
whirl (turn in a twisting or spinning motion)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb whirl
Context examples:
When Mr. St. John went, it was beginning to snow; the whirling storm continued all night.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Round and round he went, whirling and turning and reversing, trying to shake off the fifty-pound weight that dragged at his throat.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
But his head was whirling round, the blood was gushing from his brow, his temple, his mouth.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He didn't hear me call, nor see me flap my parasol in front, and there we were, quite helpless, rattling away, and whirling around corners at a breakneck pace.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Winter is taking a grip on Titan's southern hemisphere, and a strong, whirling atmospheric circulation pattern — a vortex — has developed in the upper atmosphere over the south pole.
(Cassini Sees Dramatic Seasonal Changes on Titan, NASA)
Still kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and threw all his weight and strength upon some lever, with the result that there came a long, whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful click.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Ever since the service he rendered Jane at Weymouth, when they were out in that party on the water, and she, by the sudden whirling round of something or other among the sails, would have been dashed into the sea at once, and actually was all but gone, if he had not, with the greatest presence of mind, caught hold of her habit— (I can never think of it without trembling!)—But ever since we had the history of that day, I have been so fond of Mr. Dixon!
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do know that for the next little while the whole world swam away from before me in a whirling mist; Silver and the birds, and the tall Spy-glass hilltop, going round and round and topsy-turvy before my eyes, and all manner of bells ringing and distant voices shouting in my ear.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Between me and the moonlight flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
