Forms: 5–7 wisker, 6 whysker, (7 whisquer, 9 whiscar), 7– whisker. [f. WHISK v. + -ER1. Cf. Sw. viskare sponge, swab, LG. wisker a rubber, duster, G. wischer rubber, clout, (fig.) reprimand.]
1. Something that whisks or is used for whisking: applied to varions objects, as a fan; a rod or switch; a bunch of feathers used as a brush (cf. WHISK sb.1 4); etc. Obs. or dial.
c. 1425. St. Mary of Oignies, II. iii. in Anglia, VIII. 155. She sawe oure lady … as wiþ a wisker waftynge wynde vpon hir.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), 89. A whyp is a whysker, that wyll wrest out blood.
1611. Cotgr., Houssine, a Switch, or Whisker.
1825. Jamieson, Whisker, whiscar, a bunch of feathers for sweeping anything.
† 2. A person who whisks or moves briskly about; a lively young gallant: cf. WHISKING ppl. a. 1 c.
1595. Gosson, Pleas. Quippes, vii. When yoong wiskers … in no good sort will spend the day, But be prophane, more then a Turke.
3. slang or colloq. Something great or excessive, a ‘whopper’ (cf. WHISKING ppl. a. 2); esp. a great lie, a ‘bang.’ Now rare or Obs.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 32. Relations belonging to Quantity … Greatness, Magnitude, ample, large, vast, huge,… whisker,… magnifie, aggravate, exaggerate.
1672. Eachard, Hobbs’s State Nat., Let., 35. It may be convenient for you to call this … a flam, a whisker, a caprice.
1694. Echard, Plautus, 9. Suppose I tell her some damn’d Wisker.
[1858. Wright, Dict. Obs. & Prov. Engl., s.v., ‘The dam of that was a whisker,’ a phrase used when a great falsehood was uttered.]
† b. A ‘whisking’ or blustering wind: see WHISKING ppl. a. 1 b. Obs.
1670. Ray, Prov., 288. March whisquer was never a good fisher.
4. The hair that grows on an adult man’s face; formerly commonly applied to that on the upper lip, now called moustache, and sometimes to (or including) that on the chin (beard); now restricted to that on the cheeks or sides of the face. a. pl.: usually collective; sometimes distributive, as a pair of whiskers, denoting the hair on the two sides.
c. 1600. Timon, II. ii. (1842), 27. My wiskers hanging o’re the ouerlipp.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 259. Some spruce yonker, with a starcht beard, and his whiskers turn’d vp.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., Pref. The rank Mustachos into whiskers grown.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 390. His [sc. Persian’s] Beard is Cut neatly, and the Whiskers … encouraged from one Ear to the other, in fashion of an Half-Moon on the upper Lip, with only a decent Peak on the under.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 152. What grew on my upper Lip … I had trimm’d into a large Pair of Mahometan Whiskers.
1808. W. Wilson, Hist. Diss. Ch., I. 141. The men members wore whiskers upon their upper lips.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Whiskers, the hair on the upper lip, as until lately, I believe, all over England. Now, the hair under the ears, sometimes under the eyes also, bear[s] this term; and the labial comæ, are called moustaches.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xli. A tall fellow, with … very thick bushy whiskers meeting under his chin.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., iii. He grew whiskers under his chin.
1878. Besant & Rice, Celia’s Arb., ii. His whiskers … were cut to the old-fashioned regulation ‘mutton-chop.’ They advanced into the middle of the cheek, and were then squared off in a line which met the large stiff collar below at an angle of forty-five.
b. sing.: in earlier use, a moustache; now, the hair on one side of the face; also collectively.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Whisker, a tuft of Hair on the Upper Lip of a Man.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, V. i. La Fosseuse … traced the outline of a small whisker … upon one side of her upper lip.
1836. H. Greville, Diary, 24 June (1883), 91. The ball lodged in the lining of the carriage, and some of the wadding in his whisker.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, ii. He was a … shaggy fellow,… with a good deal of hair and whisker.
1851. in Kinglake, Crimea (1863), I. xiv. 267. A mere lad without whisker or moustache.
1875. H. James, Rod. Hudson, v. 173. A tall … gentleman … with a carefully brushed whisker.
† c. Applied to a lady’s curl hanging over the cheek. (Cf. whiskerette below.) Obs.
1786. Pogonologia, 55. About a century ago [in France] the ladies … curls hung down their cheeks as far as their bosom. These curls went by the name of whiskers.
5. Each of a set of projecting hairs or bristles growing on the upper lip or about the mouth of certain animals; also applied to a similar set of feathers in certain birds, and to mystacial markings.
1678. Lond. Gaz., No. 1342/4. A light gray Gelding,… with an iron mark of a G. on the rear Buttock, and two whiskers on the upper lip.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 329. The Raccoon has … Whiskers and Nose like a Pig.
1747. Gray, Cat, iv. A whisker first and then a claw.
1752. J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 352. The lesser Butcher-bird…. there are about the angles of the beak certain rigid bristles or hairs, which serve as whiskers.
1830. M. Donovan, Dom. Econ., II. 85. The sea-otter is a large animal;… the eyes are small; the whiskers are white, strong, and numerous.
1879. Huxley, Sensation, Sci. & Cult. (1881), 266. The ‘whiskers’ of cats owe their functional importance to the abundant supply of nerves to the follicles in which their bases are lodged.
6. Naut. Each of two wooden or iron spars extending laterally on each side of the bowsprit, for spreading the guys of the jib-boom.
1844. Mrs. Houston, Yacht Voy. Texas, II. 15. Our fore-topmast was carried away, as well as the larboard whisker.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 382. It was found that the whiskers of the jibboom had carried away.
1913. M. Roberts, Salt of the Sea, viii. 208. Between the whiskers and the foremast.
b. A lever for exploding a torpedo.
1880. Sleeman, Torpedoes, 135. In addition to the nose piece, horizontal and vertical levers, or whiskers, may also be used.
7. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 4).
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Wisker splitter, a man of intrigue.
1786. Pogonologia, 20. It was then [sc. in Lewis XIV.’s reign] no uncommon thing for a … lover to have his whiskers … combed, and pomatumed by his mistress and … a mon of fashion took care to be … provided with … whisker-wax.
1813. Moore, Post-bag, viii. 14. When the rich rouge-pot … Tips even thy whisker-tops with red.
1853. ‘C. Bede,’ Verdant Green, I. xi. He told Verdant, that his claret had been repeatedly tapped,… his whisker-bed [i.e., face] napped heavily.
Hence Whisker v. (nonce-wd.), trans. to furnish with whiskers; Whiskerage, whiskers collectively, a growth of whiskers; Whiskerer (nonce-wd.), a man who wears whiskers; Whiskerette, a small whisker; a curl at the side of a girl’s face (cf. sense 4 c above); Whiskerless a., destitute of whiskers; Whiskery a., having large whiskers.
1812. Examiner, 4 Oct., 633/1. Deliberating how still further to Germanize and to *whisker out British soldiers.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., I. i. (1872), I. 6. Fellows … with such a breadth of sabre, extent of whiskerage [etc.].
1859. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxxvi. The trim of their whiskerage.
1717. Entertainer, No. 1. 4. We are no *Whiskerers of the Order of St. Jacobs.
1880. Athenæum, 2 Oct., 440/2. Her hair is trimly curled in *‘whiskerettes.’
1896. Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 23 Sept. A man wearing whiskers,… his chin shaven and allowing two distinct whiskerettes to be plainly discerned.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxi. Mr. Towlinson is *whiskerless.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxxiv. The old lady is … as tall and *whiskery as a grenadier.
Whisker sb.2, whist-player: see WHISK sb.2
