whelp

English

Etymology

Old English hwelp 'pup, wolf cub', from Proto-Germanic *hwelpaz (compare Dutch welp, obsolete German Welf, Danish hvalp), from pre-Germanic *kʷelbos, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelbhos (compare Old Church Slavonic жрѣбѧ (žrěbę) 'foal', Latin vulva, bolva, volba 'womb', Ancient Greek βρέφος (bréphos) 'fœtus, newborn', Hittite huēlpi 'overipe, fresh; newborn animal', Sanskrit उल्ब (úlba, úlva) 'womb').

Noun

whelp (plural whelps)

1. the young of a mammal.
2. an insolent youth.
3. one of several wooden strips to prevent wear on a windlass on a clipper-era ship.
4. a tooth on a sprocket wheel (compare sprocket, def. 2; cog, def. 1).

Translations

young of a mammal

Armenian: ձագ (hy) (jag) German: Welpe (de) m.

Low German: Welp (nds) m., Wölp (nds) m., Wülp (nds) m.

Verb

whelp (third-person singular simple present whelps, present participle whelping, simple past and past participle whelped)

1. to give birth.

   The bitch whelped.