[f. as prec. + -ING2.]
1. That whisks, in various senses: see the verb.
1522. Skelton, Why not to Court, 1161. I suppose that he is Of Ieremy the whyskynge rod, The flayle, the scourge of almighty God.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 637. With whisking broom they brush and sweep.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 268. This whisking tail of the dragon … may cast down some doctors of the church.
† b. Of the wind: Blowing briskly, forcibly or freshly. Obs.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 156. A litle winde in a moystie day, stoppeth a shafte more than a good whiskynge wynde in a clere daye.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. 817. As swiftly whirling as the whisking winde.
1635. Swan, Spec. Mundi, v. § 2 (1643), 171. If the exhalation be little, tenuous or thin, then we have onely a pleasant whisking wind,… by which the aire is gently moved.
1697. in Nat. Hist. Irel. (1726), 113. The air was somewhat troubled with little whisking winds, seeming to meet contrary ways.
c. Of a person: Moving actively, brisk, lively, smart. slang or colloq. ? Obs.
1611. Middleton & Dekker, Roaring Girl, I 1. What are your whisking gallants to our husbands.
1681. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 40 (1713), II. 2. If you talk of Rubbers and Whiskers,… he’s a whisking Rubber for you;… he can rub one Man into two.
1824. Carlyle, Lett. to Miss Welsh, 23 June. Captain Smith was … brisk,… whisking, smart of speech.
2. Great, excessive, ‘bouncing,’ ‘whopping.’ slang or colloq. (now only dial.).
1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 166. They have whisking water-works for evacuation.
1681. Hickeringill, News fr. Colchester, Wks. 1716, I. 394. With what astonishment the People … were struck, when they read … this Whisking Lye.
1705. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Rousing Lie, a whisking great one.
1792. Burns, Willie’s Wife, ii. A whiskin’ beard about her mou’.
