1635. SHIRLEY, The Coronation, iii. The WHIRLIGIGS of women.
d. 1655. T. ADAMS, Works, I. 180. That every novelist with a WHIRLIGIG in his brain must broach new opinions.
2. (old).—Change, ‘the turn of the wheel,’ the lapse of time: in quot. 1721 = Time or the World in the abstract.
1602. SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night, v. 1. And thus the WHIRLIGIG of time brings in his revenges.
d. 1721. PRIOR, The Ladle.
| [The Gods] gave things their Beginning | |
| And set this WHIRLIGIG a spinning. |
3. (provincial).—A carriage: also WHIRLICOTE.
1633. J. STOW, Survey of London, 70. Of old time, Coaches were not known in this Iland, but Chariots or WHIRLICOTES, then so-called.
4. (common).—Applied to various toys or the like: e.g., (a) a top or top-like toy, (b) a teetotum, (c) a round-about or merry-go-round: also WHIRLER and WHIRL-ABOUT; and (d) a turnstile.
1530. PALSGRAVE, Langue Francoyse, 762. I tryll a WHIRLYGIG round-aboute … je pirouette … I holde the a peny that I will tryll my WHIRLYGIG longer about than thou.
c. 1741. ARBUTHNOT and POPE, Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus. He found that Marbles taught him Percussion and … WHIRLIGIGS the Axis in Peritrochio.
5. (old military).—An instrument for punishing petty offenders: a kind of wooden cage, turning on a pivot, in which the culprit was whirled round with great velocity.
