whirling

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Related to whirling: whirling dervish, Whirling disease

whirl

(wûrl, hwûrl)

v. whirled, whirl·ing, whirls

v.intr.

1. To rotate rapidly about a center or an axis; spin.

2. To move while rotating or turning about: The dancer whirled across the stage. See Synonyms at turn.

3. To turn rapidly, changing direction; wheel: She whirled around to face him.

4. To have the sensation of spinning; reel: My head is whirling with data.

v.tr.

1. To cause to rotate or turn rapidly: whirl a baton.

2. To cause to move with a spinning motion: whirled the ball up into the air.

3. To drive at high speed: whirled the motorcycle around the corner.

4. Obsolete To hurl.

1. The act of rotating or revolving rapidly.

2. Something, such as a cloud of dust, that whirls or is whirled.

3. A state of confusion; a tumult: The press room was in a whirl.

4. A swift succession or round of events: the social whirl.

5. A state of mental confusion or giddiness; dizziness: My head is in a whirl.

6. Informal A short trip or ride.

7. Informal A brief or experimental try: Let's give the plan a whirl.

[Middle English whirlen, probably from Old Norse hvirfla.]

whirl′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

whirling - the act of rotating in a circle or spiral

gyration

rotary motion, rotation - the act of rotating as if on an axis; "the rotation of the dancer kept time with the music"

Translations

vorticoso

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References in classic literature ?

Or unto eagles like which fixedly, Long adown the precipice look, Adown THEIR precipice:-- Oh, how they whirl down now, Thereunder, therein, To ever deeper profoundness whirling!-- Then,

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A few minutes later, Daylight was whirling around the dance-floor, waltzing with the Virgin.

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When at last, smartly whirling his partner round in front of her chair, he drew up with a click of his spurs and bowed to her, Natasha did not even make him a curtsy.

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A little girl, radiant and beautiful, shapely as a fairy and exquisitely dressed, was dancing gracefully in the middle of the lonely road, whirling slowly this way and that, her dainty feet twinkling in sprightly fashion.

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At the peasant's words that Fokanitch lived for his soul, in truth, in God's way, undefined but significant ideas seemed to burst out as though they had been locked up, and all striving towards one goal, they thronged whirling through his head, blinding him with their light.

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But now the sunflowers suddenly stopped their rapid whirling, and the travelers plainly saw a girl's face appear in the center of each flower.

At that moment the flowers began whirling again, and the faces faded away and were lost in the rapid revolutions.

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Maggie tossed her hair back and ran downstairs, seized her bonnet without putting it on, peeped, and then dashed along the passage lest she should encounter her mother, and was quickly out in the yard, whirling round like a Pythoness, and singing as she whirled, "Yap, Yap, Tom's coming home!" while Yap danced and barked round her, as much as to say, if there was any noise wanted he was the dog for it.

Maggie paused in her whirling and said, staggering a little, "Oh no, it doesn't make me giddy, Luke; may I go into the mill with you?"

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These lines run whole, and whirling out: come in broken, and dragging slow.

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He was uttering these words with a sort of despairing rage, when suddenly he saw the desert sands rising aloft in the midst of a dense cloud of dust, and go whirling through the air, impelled by opposing currents.

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They not only danced together, whirling and gyrating around the room, but they leaped over one another, stood upon their heads and hopped and skipped here and there so nimbly that it was hard work to keep track of them.