Forms: 5 qwherel, qwerle, wherwille, Sc. quhirl(l, 6 whiruel(l, wherle, whyrle, whirroll, 6–7 whurle, 6–8 whirle, 7 wervell, whurl, 6– whirl. [Partly a. MLG., MDu. wervel or hvirfill (see WHIRL v.), partly f. the verb itself. Cf. WHORL.]
I. Denoting a material object.
1. The fly-wheel or pulley of a spindle: = WHORL sb. 1.
1411. Nottingham Rec., II. 86. x. qwerles.
1479. Paston Lett., III. 270. vj. soketes, with branches to remeve. iij. wherwilles to the same.
1483. Cath. Angl., 298/2. A Qwherel of A spyndylle (A. A Qworle of A roke), giraculum, neopellum, vertibrum.
1510. Stanbridge, Vocabula (W. de W.), C j b. Verticillum, a wherle [1525, a whorle].
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iii. (Arb.), 20. Nourse medle you with your spyndle and your whirle.
1556. Withals, Dict. (1562), 35/1. A whiruell, verticulum, verticulis, spondilus.
1585. W. Whitaker, Answ. to Rainolds, 160. Among the other praises of a woorthy … woman that is one, that she putteth hir hande to the wherle.
1598. Florio, Aspo,… a whirroll.
1659. Torriano, Cócca, the wervell or button of a spindle.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 389. The revolution of the wheel,… conveyed by a band to the whirl, or pulley on the spindle.
† b. transf. A skein of thread sufficient to fill a spindle. Obs.
1560. W. Baldwin, Funeralles Edw. VI, Death playnt, iii. Atropos did knap in two the string, Before her sisters sixtene whurles had spun.
c. Rope-making. A cylindrical piece of wood furnished with a hook on which the ends of the fiber are hung in spinning.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 58. Whirls are of beech or ash,… cylindrically formed, and fixed on iron spindles in the heads of wheels, with a hook at one end for the spinner to hang his hemp on. They are likewise used to hang the yarn on for hardening and laying ropes.
1797. [see whirl-hook under WHIRL-].
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 844/1. The point of the prolonged axis of the whirl is bent into a hook.
† 2. = WHIRL-WORM 1. Obs.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1042. A Whirl or little hairy Worm with many feet. Ibid. I collect that there is a house Whurl like to Silphius.
3. Bot. and Zool. = WHORL sb. 2.
1713. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 194. The upper Whirls are guarded with round pointed Leaves.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 189. Whirls of leaves often so thickly set as partly to tile the stems.
1883. C. F. Holder, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 187/2. The numberless animals of the colony are grouped in whirls.
4. Conch. = WHORL sb. 3.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. VI. i. 125. A Shell … with a Knobed Turban or Whirle.
1851. Woodward, Mollusca, 45. The whirls of spiral shells are sometimes separated by the interference of foreign substances.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1860, 186. In Triforis, the whirls turn the wrong way.
b. = TOP sb.2 2.
1708. Phil. Trans., XXVI. 79. Trochites, The Whirle, or Top-shell.
5. A convolution, curl, spiral: = WHORL sb. 4.
1862. Burton, Bk. Hunter (1863), 399. The noses, the tails, the feet of the characteristic monster of the sculptured stones, all end in a whirl.
1884. DeVolson Wood, in Jrnl. Frankl. Inst., June, 418. The reduction of friction and of whirls in the wheel.
6. Angling. A spinning bait.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 71. Using two lines with spoon-baits or ‘whirl.’
7. Electr. (See quots.)
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, Whirl, Electrical. (See Flyer.)
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 5598. Series of apparatus … including Leyden jars … swan, spider, whirl or fly.
1893. Sloane, Electr. Dict., 577. A conductor carrying an electric current is surrounded by circular lines of force, which are sometimes termed an electric whirl.
II. Denoting a movement (and derived senses).
8. The action, or an act, of whirling; (swift) rotatory or circling movement, rotation, circumvolution, gyration; a (rapid) turn, as of a wheel, around an axis or center.
spec. in Fencing: cf. quot. 1771 s.v. WHIRL v. 3. In Kinematics, a uniform rotation of a fluid about a fixed axis.
c. 1480. Henryson, Orpheus & Eurydice, 370. Wardly men sum tyme ar castin hie Apon the quhele, in grete prosperitee, And wyth a quhirl, vnwarly, or thai witte, Ar thravin doun to pure & law estate.
1599. Marston, Sco. Villanie, III. x. H 3. The whirle on toe, The turne aboue ground.
1609. Bible (Douay), 1 Sam. xxv. 29. In violence, and whurle of a sling.
1621. Fletcher, Pilgrim, III. vi. What flaws, and whirles of weather.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IV. 562. The good man … bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl.
1771. Lonnergan, Fencer’s Guide, 87. This [wrenching] differs from whirling; because you limit it not as you do the whirl, to get a good Repost.
1829. C. Rose, Four Yrs. S. Africa, 146. A wild kind of dance, the principal motion of which was a whirl.
1856. Kane, Arctic Expl., I. xvi. 186. The howling of the wind and the whirl of the snow-drift.
1878. W. K. Clifford, Kinematic, 214. Whirls. Suppose next that the lines of flow are circles having their centres on a fixed axis, and their planes perpendicular to it, and that there is no spin except at the axis, and no expansion anywhere.
1894. Phil. Trans., CLXXXV. I. 281. In an unloaded shaft, the period of whirl coincides with the natural period of lateral vibration.
1908. S. E. White, Riverman, xxvi. A whirl of the wheel to the right, a turn to the left.
b. Something, as a body of water or air, in (rapid) circling motion, or the part at which this takes place; an eddy, a vortex.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneis, II. 531. As wrastling windes out of dispersed whirl [orig. rupto turbine] Befight themselues.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 118/1. These whirls and eddies in a River … have … the nature and force of a Screw.
1753. Franklin, Lett., Wks. 1840, VI. 155. Still the tube or whirl of air may remain entire.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., VII. x. Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, The boat spun round and round.
1847. Stoddart, Angler’s Comp., 146. Trout … are found … close below banks, among side-runs and small whirls.
1902. [M. H. Grant], Words by an Eyewitness, 101. A whirl of rifle-bullets beat upon the wet ground.
9. In extended use: Swift or violent movement, as of something hurled or flung, or of a wheeled vehicle, etc.; rapid course; rush, hurry. Also fig.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Rich. II., cix. The Noble Vere springs at a double whirle, Marquesse and Duke.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 52. Snatch’d in the whirl, the hurried navy flew.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, vi. The lively whirl of carriages is exchanged for the deep rumble of carts and waggons.
1882. T. G. Bowles, Flotsam & Jetsam, 97. Such a wretched device for filling their holidays as a whirl from one place to another, and a whirl back.
10. fig. Confused and hurried activity of any kind; disturbance, commotion; tumult, bustle.
1552. Huloet, Whyrle or rage of a battayle.
1620. I. C., Two Merry Milk-maids, I. iii. C 4 b. What whirle’s this?
1780. Mrs. H. Cowley, Belle’s Stratagem, II. i. The feelings of Wife, and Mother, are lost in the whirl of dissipation.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y., Whit-Sunday, x. A giddy whirl of sin Fills ear and brain.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxxix. To-morrow was to be a half-holiday devoted to a whirl of entertainments.
1889. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob, vi. Those who live in the whirl of London Society.
b. A confused, disturbed, distracted or dizzy state of mind or feeling.
1707. Addison, Rosamond, III. iii. My soul is … in the whirle of passion lost.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, iv. In a whirl of wonder at the theatre.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., lxv. His head was in a complete whirl.
1905. H. G. Wells, Kipps, III. iii. § 6. He departed in a whirl, to secure a copy of every morning paper.
