whiffle

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• wiffle

Etymology

1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”, as whiff +‎ -le (“(frequentive)”) and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪfəl

Noun

whiffle (plural whiffles)

1. A short blow or gust
2. (obsolete) Something small or insignificant; a trifle.
3. (obsolete) A fife or small flute.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Douce to this entry?)

Verb

whiffle (third-person singular simple present whiffles, present participle whiffling, simple past and past participle whiffled)

1. to blow a short gust
2. to waffle, talk aimlessly
3. (UK) to waste time
4. to travel quickly, whizz, whistle, with an accompanying wind-like sound
5. (ornithology, of a bird) to descending rapidly from a height once the decision to land has been made, involving fast side-slipping first one way and then the other

Derived terms

• wiffleball