whirl-
the n. or vb.-stem in Combination: whirl-brain, a giddy-brained person (cf. G. wirbelgeist scatter-brain); † whirl-crowned a., giddy-brained; † whirl-fire, a poetic or rhetorical name for lightning (? as associated with violent storms or whirlwinds); † whirl-gate, a turnstile; whirl-hook, in Rope-making, each of the hooks of a ‘whirl’ (see whirl n. 1 c); † whirl-jack = whirligig 1 (c); † whirl-mint, ? = whorled water-mint; whirl-pillar, -spout, a rotating column of water or dust, a waterspout or dust-whirl; whirl-shaped a., whorled; † whirl-snail, † whirl-stone (see quots.); † whirl-whale, some kind of whale (cf. whirl-about 1, whirlpool1); whirl-wheel (tr. Fr. rouet volant), a kind of water-wheel (see quot.).
| 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. I. x. 179 He is a *whirl-brain that talks whatever comes uppermost. |
| 1648 N. Ward Petit. Eastern Assoc. 20 Many *whirl-crown'd, and bragg-braind Opinionists. |
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. Law 1011 The smoaking storms, the *whirl-fire's crackling clash. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 104 The whirle fire shall flash. |
| 1550 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 44 The *whirle yate anont the college dore. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 483/2 This second spinner attaches his own hemp to the *whirl hook. |
| 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xi. 57 That he [sc. Gargantua] might play..after the manner of the other little children.., they made him a faire weather *whirljack [1694 whirle-gig], of the wings of the windmill. |
| c 1710 Petiver Cat. Ray's Eng. Herbal Tab. xxxi, Water *Whirl-mint. Cross Whirl-mint. |
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 83 In some parts of the ocean the water-spout or *whirl-pillar is occasionally met with. |
| 1761 Phil. Trans. LII. 359 Each series is of equal length, and placed in a wheel or *whirl-shaped form like the equisetum or horse⁓tail plant. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. vi. i. 132 The *Whirle-Snail. Turbocochlea. |
| 1737 [S. Berington] G. di Lucca's Mem. (1738) 93 We saw..Ten Thousand little *Whirl-spouts of Sand. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum iii. i. i. 262 The Short *Whirle-Stone. Trochites. |
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. Law 732 Another, swallowed in a *Whirl-Whale's womb, Is laid a-live within a living Toomb. |
| 1853 Glynn Treat. Power Water 37 An elaborate series of experiments and an excellent report on the useful effect of the ordinary horizontal water-wheel at present used in France. Those on which the experiments were made are at Toulouse... These wheels are of two kinds: those situate on the rivers are called bucket-wheels (à cuve)..; those which are placed on the canal are called *whirl-wheels (rouets volants),..and are turned by the percussion of the water upon curved floats. |