▪ I. whim, n.1
(hwɪm)
Also 8 whym.
[See whim-wham. The transference of meaning from branch I to branch II is similar to that in engine and gin n.1]
I. † 1. A pun or play on words; a double meaning. Obs.
| 1641 Brome Jov. Crew i. (1652) B 1 b, There was the whim, or double meaning on't. Ibid., One told a Gentleman His son should be a man-killer, and hang'd for't; Who, after prov'd a great and rich Physician, And with great Fame ith' Universitie Hang'd up in Picture for a grave example. There was the whim of that. Quite contrary! Ibid. B 2 b, Shall Squire Oldrent's Daughters Weare old rents in their Garments? (there's a whim too). |
2. † a. A fanciful or fantastic creation; a whimsical object. Obs.
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 108 When he..Had rifled all his Pokes and Fobs Of Gimcracks, Whims and Jiggumbobs. 1712–13 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 16 Jan., I came home at seven, and began a little whim, which just came into my head; and will make a threepenny pamphlet. 1731 Cheny List Horse-Matches 89 This Prize is call'd a Whim or whimsical Plate, because the Conditions of running for the same, are different from those of all other Prizes. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 275 Were the testimony of history less positive..such a Government [as that of Sparta] would appear a mere philosophical whim or fiction. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstrel I. 111 Some may praise the grass-plat whims, Which the gard'ner weekly trims. |
† b. A whimsical fellow. Obs.
| 1712 Addison Spect. No. 371 ¶2 That sort of Men who are called Whims and Humourists. |
c. In ombre, the deciding on the trump suit by turning up the top card of the stock.
| 1874 H. H. Gibbs Ombre 41 note, Voltereta, though known in England (under the name of the Whim), was not appreciated there. |
3. A capricious notion or fancy; a fantastic or freakish idea; an odd fancy.
| 1697 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife ii. ii, Walking pretty late in the Park..A Whim took me to sing Chevy-Chace. 1702 Savery Miner's Friend 80 Many such like Whims [as perpetual motion] are pretended to by Designing Men. 1713 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) IV. 254 The New-Printing House just erected, w{supc}{suph} is (it seems, out of a Whim) to be called Typographeum Clarendonianum. 1781 Cowper Truth 89 See the sage hermit,..Wearing out life in his religious whim, Till his religious whimsy wears out him. 1832 H. Martineau Ella of Gar. viii, The scheme was no whim of the moment. 1848 Dickens Dombey xlii, Mrs. Dombey may be in earnest, or she may be pursuing a whim, or she may be opposing me. 1899 Conan Doyle Duet, Confessions, There are all..degrees of love, some just the whim of a moment, and others the passion of a lifetime. |
b. In generalized sense: Capricious humour or disposition of mind.
| a 1721 Prior Enigma, ‘Form'd half beneath, etc.’ 7 They [sc. skates] serve the poor for use, the rich for whim. 1728 Pope Dunc. iii. 153 Sneering Goode, half malice and half whim. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas xii. i. (Rtldg.) 423, I came up to pay my devotions; but whim, or perhaps revenge..determined her to put on the stranger. 1884 Stevenson Mem. & Portraits xvi. (1887) 275 Mr. Besant so genial,..with so persuasive and humorous a vein of whim. |
c. Comb.
| 1647 Ward Simple Cobler 25 These whimm' Crown'd shees, these fashion-fansying wits. 1786 Burns Bard's Epit. i, Is there a whim-inspir'd fool, Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,..Let him draw near. |
II. 4. A machine, used esp. for raising ore or water from a mine, consisting of a vertical shaft carrying a large drum with one or more radiating arms or beams to which a horse or horses, etc. may be yoked and by which it may be turned, the rope being wound on the drum by the horse's motion. Also horse-whim.
| 1738 MSS. Dk. Portland (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 177 This Lord has destroyed the old ridiculous water works and whims that were then when made much in vogue. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. I. Cornwall 11 A Wheel and Axle, (which they call a Whim). 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 143 A proper working Shaft, upon which a Whym may be erected. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxvi, They above..were rigging a rope to an old horse-whim. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right xliv, The whole plant, the whim, the tools,..—every mortal thing down to a worn-out hide bucket—was sold. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as whim-driver, whim-engine, whim-gin, whim-horse, whim-house, whim-kibble, whim-rope, whim-round, whim-shaft.
| 1757 Borlase in Phil. Trans. L. 504 The whim-house shook so terribly, that a man there at work ran out of it, concluding it to be falling. 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 144 A whym Shaft to draw the Deads and Ore from the Sump of the Mine. Ibid. 150 Two horses..go round upon a platform named the Whym-round. Ibid. 165 In deep Mines, some whym ropes cost fifty or sixty pounds. Ibid. Gloss. s.v. Kibbal, A Whym-Kibbal is a larger [bucket], which..serves to draw water with, or bring up the Ore to grass. 1789 Brand Hist. Newc. II. 684 In a whim gin the ropes run upon two wheel pullies over the shaft. 1834 2nd Rep. Cornwall Polytechn. Soc. 41 The Steam Whim Engine. 1855 Leifchild Cornwall 139 Shafts..intended for the extraction of ores (called whim-shafts where horse-whims are employed for extracting the produce). 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 84 Whim Driver. 1896 J. Hocking Fields of Fair Renown i, The boy who drove the ‘whim horse’ cracked his whip. |
¶ In sense 4 a variant whin is found.
| 1838 Simms Publ. Wks. Gt. Brit. ii. 3 Cutting the whin ropes nearly through. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Whin (Mining), a machine for raising ores and refuse. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 9 June 5/3 Rolling a large oak tree with a timber whin. |
Hence whimmed a., ? possessed with a whim or odd fancy; ˈwhimmery, a piece of whimsicality; ˈwhimship, mock title for a whimsical person.
| 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes i. viii. 29 Our Don (or if Sancho had the braines, for the Squires were *whim'd in the whiske) might very well from that encounter have stil'd himself a Knight of Millan. |
| 1837 Fraser's Mag. XV. 333 Had not Mr. Pugin's attention been too exclusively engrossed by that architectural *whimmery. 1906 T. Sinton Poetry of Lochaber 182 We can imagine the swing of his bow with many a pause and twirl carrying through the whimeries of the rhyme. |
| 1793 Ann. Reg., Projects 337 You're sure to find his *Whimship there. |
▪ II. whim, n.2
[Of unknown origin.]
The European wigeon.
| a 1705 Ray Syn. Avium (1713) 146 Penelope Aldrov. An Anas fistularis? The Wigeon, or Whewer, or Whim. [Hence in later works.] |
▪ III. whim, v.
(hwɪm)
[f. whim n.1]
1. † a. intr. with it: To play the whimsical fellow. † b. trans. To put off by a whim or fancy. c. To desire capriciously, to have an odd fancy for. Hence ˈwhimming ppl. a., whimsical, capricious.
| 1704 T. Baker Act at Oxf. iii. ii. 32 Blo. [Aside] The Rogue whims it rarely. 1710 R. Ward Life H. More 216 He knew not, how he came to be whimm'd off from it (as his expression was). 1787 Howie Plain Reas. Diss. 215 [The motion] was rejected on the whimming pretence there was no present danger. 1842 Mrs. Trollope Vis. Italy I. x. 153 What he whimmed to will, that he had power to do. 1860 S. Martin Westm. Chapel Pulpit ii. 15 He expects us to do not what we whim. |
2. intr. Of the head: To be giddy, to ‘swim’. Now dial.
| 1700 Congreve Way of World iv. 61 My head begins to whim it about—Why dost thou not speak? thou art both as drunk and as mute as a Fish. 1716–20 Lett. Mist's Jrnl. (1722) I. 88 The first Night he retired to his Chamber, his Head whimm'd immediately. |
▪ IV. whim
var. queme a., whin, wim v.