Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WHIRL'I-GIG, n. [whirl and gig.]

1. A toy which children spin or whirl round. – Johnson.
2. In military antiquities, an instrument for punishing petty offenders, as sutlers, brawling women, &c.; a kind of wooden cage turning on a pivot, in which the offender was whirled round with great velocity. – Cyc.