whiffler

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Definitions (6)

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  1. A piper or fifer. His former transition was in the faire about the Jugglers; now he is at the Pageants among the Whifflers. Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
  2. 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. The deep-mouth'd sea, Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king Seems to prepare his way. Shak., Hen. V., v., cho., l. 12. The term [whiffler] is undoubtedly borrowed from whiffle, another name for a fife or small flute; for whifflers were originally those who preceded armies or processions as fifers or pipers. F. Douce, Illus. of Shakespeare, p. 311. I can go in no corner but I meet with some of my whifflers in their accoutrements. Chapman, Monsieur D'Olive, iii. 1. The Whiflers of your inferior and Chiefe companies cleere the wayes before him. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, p. 43. Before the dame, and round about, March'd whifflers and staffiers on foot. S. Butler, Hudibras, II. ii. 650.
  3. One who whiffles; one who changes frequently his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; a fickle or unsteady person. Your right whiffler indeed hangs himself in Saint Martin's, and not in Cheapside. Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho, ii. 1. Every whiffler in a laced coat … shall talk of the constitution. Swift.
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