Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WHISK, n. [G. and D. wisch. a wisp.]

1. A small bunch of grass, straw, hair or the like, used for a brush; hence, a brush or small besom.
2. Part of a woman's dress; a kind of tippet. Child.

WHISK, v.

To move nimbly and with velocity. Purchas.

WHISK, v.t.

1. To sweep, brush or wipe with a whisk.
2. To sweep along; to move nimbly over the ground. Hudibras.

WHISKER, n. [from whisk.]

Long hair growing on the human cheek. Pope.

WHISKER-ED, a.

Formed into whiskers; furnished with whiskers.

WHISK'ET, n.

A basket. [Local.]

WHISKING, ppr.

Brushing; sweeping along; moving with velocity along the surface.

WHISK'Y, n. [Ir. uisge, water, whence usquebaugh; W. wysg, a stream]

A spirit distilled from grain. In the north of England, the name is given to the spirit drawn from barley. In the United States, whisky is generally distilled from wheat, rye or maiz.

WHIS'PER, n.

1. A low soft sibilant voice; or words uttered with such a voice. The whisper can not give a tone. Bacon. Soft whispers through th' assembly went. Dryden.
2. A cautious or timorous speech.
3. A hissing or buzzing sound.

WHISPER, v.i.

1. To address in a low voice. Ho whispers the man in the ear. [But this is elliptical for whispers to.]
2. To utter in a low sibilant voice. He whispered a word in my ear.
3. To prompt secretly; as, he came to whisper Wolsey. Shak.

WHISPER, v.i. [Sax. hwiriart; Dan. hvisker; Sw. hviska, to buzz, to whisper; G. flispern; allied to whistle, wheeze, and L. fistula. The word seems by its sound to be an onomatopy, as it expresses a sibilant sound or breathing.]

1. To speak with a low hissing or sibilant voice. It is ill manners to whisper in company. The hollow whisp'ring breeze. Thomson.
2. To speak with suspicion or timorous caution.
3. To plot secretly; to devise mischief. All that hate me whisper together against me Ps.:Ii.

WHISPER-ED, pp.

Uttered in a low voice; .uttered with suspicion or caution.

WHISPER-ER, n.

1. One who whisper.
2. A teller; one who tells secrets; a conveyer of intelligence secretly. Bacon.
3. A backbiter; one who slanders secretly. Prow. act.

WHIS'PER-ING, n.

The act of speaking with a low voice; the telling of tales, and exciting of suspicions; a backbiting.

WHIS'PER-ING, ppr.

Speaking in a low voice; telling secretly; backbiting.

WHIS'PER-ING-LY, adv.

In a low voice.

WHIST, a. [Corn. hoist, silence.]

Silent; mute; still; not speaking; not making a noise. The winds with wonder whist, Smoothly the waters kiss'd. Milton. [This adjective, like some others, always follows its noun. We never say, whist wind; but the wind is whist.] Whist is used for be silent. Whist, whist, that is, be silent or still.

WHIST, n.

A game at cards so called because it requires silence or close attention. It is not in America pronounced whisk.

WHISTLE, n. [Sax. hwistle; L. fistula.]

1. Bacon.
2. A small wind instrument.
3. The sound made by a small wind instrument.
4. Sound made by pressing the breath through a small orifice of the lips.
5. The mouth; the organ of whistling. [Vulgar.]
6. A small pipe, used by a boatswain to summon the sailors to their duty; the boatswain's call, Mar. Dict.
7. The shrill sound of winds passing among trees or through crevices, &c.
8. A call, such as sportsmen use to their dogs.

WHISTLE, v. hwisq. [Sax. hwistlan; Sw . hvissla; Dan. v hvidsler; L fistula, a whistle; allied to whisper.]

1. To utter a kind of musical sound, by pressing the breath through a small orifice formed by contracting the lips. While the plowman near at hand, Whistles o'er the furrow'd land. Milton.
2. To make a sound with a small wind instrument.
3. To sound shrill, or like a pipe. The wild winds whistle, and the billows roar. Pope.

WHISTLE, v.t.

1. To form, utter or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or air.
2. To call by a whistle; as, he whistled back his dog.

WHISTLED, pp.

Sounded with a pipe; uttered in a whistle.

WHISTLE-FISH, n.

A local name of a species of Gadus, with only two fins on the back; the Mustela fluviatilis. Cyc.

WHISTLER, n.

One who whistles.

WHISTLING, ppr.

Uttering a musical sound through a small orifice of the lips; sounding with a pipe; making a shrill sound, as wind.