Index of English words, starting with "wh"

(1) - Whirligig (n.) Any one of numerous species of beetles belonging to Gyrinus and allied genera. The body is firm, oval or boatlike in form, and usually dark colored with a bronzelike luster. These beetles live mostly on the surface of water, and move about with great celerity in a gyrating, or circular, manner, but they are also able to dive and swim rapidly. The larva is aquatic. Called also weaver, whirlwig, and whirlwig beetle.
(2) - Whirligig (n.) A mediaeval instrument for punishing petty offenders, being a kind of wooden cage turning on a pivot, in which the offender was whirled round with great velocity.
(3) - Whirligig (n.) Anything which whirls around, or in which persons or things are whirled about, as a frame with seats or wooden horses.
(4) - Whirligig (n.) A child's toy, spun or whirled around like a wheel upon an axis, or like a top.

(1) - Whirlpool (n.) A sea monster of the whale kind.
(2) - Whirlpool (n.) An eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a depression or cavity in the center, into which floating objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or the like.

(1) - Whirlwind (n.) Fig.: A body of objects sweeping violently onward.
(2) - Whirlwind (n.) A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion.

(1) - Whirry (v. i.) To whir.