swirl

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“
As the light craft got into the swirl, the black water caught it like a feather.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. intransitive verb To move with a twisting or whirling motion; eddy.
  2. intransitive verb To be dizzy or disoriented.
  3. intransitive verb To be arranged in a spiral, whorl, or twist.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • The images dissolved into a black swirl, then they were gone, leaving Harry looking at the results. —  Lost Echoes by Joe R Lansdale
  • Stress made them swirl, and she had to squint and concentrate, even then needing to read them twice I can do it today. —  F ;SF; - vol 089 issue 06 - December 1995
  • In the dark and bubbly swirl, there was nothing but mutual mischief. —  A Spell for Chameleon
  • After a moment the mist in the mirror began to swirl, then cleared, and we found ourselves staring into our father's face. —  Yasmine Galenorn - [Sisters of the Moon 2] - Changeling
  • She gives her ice and her tea a little swirl, then sets down her glass again. —  F ;SF; - vol 100 issue 01 - January 2001
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This word has been looked up 107 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

blur ·  whirl ·  splash ·  wisp ·  haze ·  ripple ·  streak ·  billow ·  rush ·  streamer ·  flurry ·  gust

Used in the same contextWord Family

swirl:   swirls ·  swirled ·  swirling
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English swyrl, eddy, probably of Low German or Scandinavian origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Norwegian svirla, whirl round, freq. of sverra = Swedish svirra = Danish svirre, whirl, orig. hum, = German schwirren, whir, chirp. Cf. whirl as related to whir.
  2. from swirl, v.
 

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/swərl/
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