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Definitions

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A piper or fifer.
  2. n. A herald or usher; a person who leads the way, or prepares the way, for another: probably so called because the pipers (see piper,1) usually led the procession.
  3. n. One who whiffles; one who changes frequently his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; a fickle or unsteady person.
  4. n. A puffer of tobacco; a whiffer.
  5. n. The whistlewing, or goldeneye duck.

Wiktionary

  1. n. obsolete One who whiffles, or frequently changes his or her opinion or course.
  2. n. obsolete One who argues evasively; a trifler.
  3. n. obsolete One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper.
  4. n. obsolete An officer who went before a procession to clear the way, by blowing a horn or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
  5. n. US, dialect The goldeneye.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a trifler.
  2. n. obsolete One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper.
  3. n. An officer who went before procession to clear the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
  4. n. (Zoöl), Local, U. S. The golden-eye.

Etymologies

  1. whiffle +‎ -er (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “(G. B.) {355} The 'whiffler' was the official sword-flourisher of the”

    The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro'

  • “Let LOVE and me talk together a little on this subject — be it a young conscience, or love, or thyself, Jack, thou seest that I am for giving every whiffler audience.”

    Clarissa Harlowe

  • “Norman arch behind the mayor, — but likewise with Snap, and with whiffler, quart pot, and frying-pan, Billy Blind and”

    Lavengro

  • “Ernie is a thistle whiffler and he whiffles thistles with a thistle whiffler.”

    Death of a Fool

  • “Only time he might have had a go, Ralphy had pinched his whiffler.”

    Death of a Fool

  • “They pointed out, angrily, that the function of the whiffler was merely to go through a pantomime of making a clear space for the dance that was to follow.”

    Death of a Fool

  • “After a bit, Ralphy turned up and gave Ernie his whiffler.”

    Death of a Fool

  • “She also saw Ernie come charging offstage without his whiffler and in a roaring rage himself.”

    Death of a Fool

  • “Stayne returned the whiffler and went on round the wall to the O.P. entrance.”

    Death of a Fool

  • ““Suppose,” Carey said, “Ernie lost his temper with the old chap, and gave a kind of swipe, or suppose he was just fooling with that murderous sharp whiffler of his and — and — well, without us noticing while the Guiser was laying doggo behind the stone — Ar, hell!””

    Death of a Fool

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. harbinger

same context (5)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. balor
  1. car-warrior
  1. spud
  1. warhammer
  1. channeler

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. whifflery

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Comments

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  • erinmckean In "Murder Must Advertise," Whifflers were those who participated in Wimsey's advertising scheme for Whifflets cigarettes -- "Whiffling Round Britain". "The great Whifflers' Club practically founded itself, and Whifflers who had formed attachments while Whiffling in company, secured special Whifflet coupons entitling them to a Whifflet wedding with a Whifflet cake and their photographs in the papers." Dec 2, 2009

  • bodgaoithe The verb whiffler as ‘one who whiffles’ is a folk etymology. The old nouns in -er are denominative, that is, from nouns, not verbs. That noun is whiffle, in Old English wifel; wyfle ‘ax’ in Middle English. See the great halberds brandished by Swiss Guards or Tower of London Beefeaters or sergeants-at-arms (German Weibel) in court processions. Feldwebel is ‘corporal’. See George Borrow 1857 Romany Rye: “Nobody can use his fists without being taught the use of them,..no more than any one can ‘whiffle’ without being taught by a master of the art... The last of the whifflers hanged himself about a fortnight ago ... there being no demand for whiffling since the discontinuation of Guildhall banquets; … let any one take up the old chap’s sword and try to whiffle.” Borrow’s whiffler was a performer; a parading worthy is a swaggerer. Puny volcanoes that unlike Aetna & Vesuvius erupt without great violence were dubbed whifflers by George Borrow (Tin Trumpet); he likened them to stogie-flashing wannabes. Sometimes a cigar is not just a cigar. Dec 2, 2009

  • missanthropist An officer who preceeds a procession, clearing the way and playing a flute.
    William Toone's Glossary of Obsolete and Uncommon Words, 1832 May 16, 2008

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‘whiffler’ has been looked up 916 times, loved by 1 person, added to 8 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 20.