Whiffle

Definitions

  • Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • n Whiffle A fife or small flute.
    • Whiffle To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle. "A person of whiffing and unsteady turn of mind can not keep close to a point of controversy."
    • Whiffle To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter.
    • Whiffle To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
    • Whiffle To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
    • ***
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • whiffle To blow in gusts; hence, to veer about, as the wind.
    • whiffle To change from one opinion or course to another; use evasions; prevaricate; be fickle or unsteady; waver.
    • whiffle To trifle; talk idly.
    • whiffle To disperse with a puff; blow away; scatter.
    • whiffle To cause to change, as from one opinion or course to another.
    • whiffle To shake or wave quickly.
    • n whiffle A fife.
    • ***
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • v.i Whiffle to veer about, blow in gusts: to be fickle: to prevaricate: to talk idly
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Freq. of whiff, to puff, perhaps influenced by D. weifelen, to waver
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
W. chwiff, a puff; imit.

Usage

In literature:

Now let any man of the present day try to whiffle.
"The Romany Rye" by George Borrow
About four o'clock they broke in rain, which the wind drove horizontally with a cold whiffling murmur.
"The Patrician" by John Galsworthy
And we, too, some day would no longer love, having become part of this monstrous, lovely earth, of that cold, whiffling air.
"The Complete Essays of John Galsworthy" by John Galsworthy
He knew Fyall and Whiffle, it appeared.
"Tom Cringle's Log" by Michael Scott
A stout cable was hooked to their whiffle-tree and they started.
"The Narrative of Gordon Sellar Who Emigrated to Canada in 1825" by Gordon Sellar
Here to the Bar this whiffling Lurcher came, And barkt to rowze the nobler Hunters Game.
"Anti-Achitophel (1682)" by Elkanah Settle et al.
He always said so, an' John wa'n't a man to whiffle about every day.
"Other Main-Travelled Roads" by Hamlin Garland
Now let any man of the present day try to whiffle.
"The Romany Rye a sequel to "Lavengro"" by George Borrow
Besides this Theam is worn too thread-bare by the whiffling would-be Wits of the Town, and of both the stone-blind-eyes of the Kingdom.
"The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. I (of 6)" by Aphra Behn
Now let any man of the present day try to whiffle.
"The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro'" by George Borrow
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In poetry:

Limping upon his bruised thigh,
Poor Collop-Joseph loud did cry;
And Whiffling-Johnny wish'd for light
That he could better see to fight.
"The Watch And Ward." by Samuel Bamford

In news:

Team Frate Train won The Peter Frates #3 Fund whiffle ball tournament on Saturday at Hannah School in Beverly.
salemnews.com
Councilman gets ' whiffle cut' to settle bet.
baltimoresun.com
No one struck out when it came to playing a marathon whiffle -ball game over the weekend for charity and a scholarship fund.
goerie.com
They are looking for 20 teams of four players to play a game of pasture golf , whiffle ball-style.
emporiagazette.com
Cryppies, Day Ladies, and Whiffling: The Just-Declassified Lingo of the NSA.
theatlantic.com
Cryppies, Day Ladies, and Whiffling: The Just-Declassified Lingo of the NSA .
theatlantic.com
What do you get when you combine an oversized ping-pong paddle with a whiffle ball.
keloland.com
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