Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To move so as to produce a vibrating or buzzing sound.
- v. To cause to make a vibratory sound.
- n. A sound of buzzing or vibration: the whir of turning wheels.
- n. Excited, noisy activity; bustle: the whir of busy shoppers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To fly, dart, revolve, or otherwise move quickly with a whizzing or buzzing sound; whizz.
- To hurry away with a whizzing sound.
- n. The buzzing or whirring sound made by a quickly revolving wheel, a partridge's wings, etc.
- n. A turn; commotion.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To whirl round, or revolve, with a whizzing noise; to fly or more quickly with a buzzing or whizzing sound; to whiz.
- v. rare To hurry a long with a whizzing sound.
- n. A buzzing or whizzing sound produced by rapid or whirling motion
WordNet 3.0
- v. make a soft swishing sound
- n. sound of something in rapid motion
Etymologies
- Middle English whirren, probably of Scandinavian origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“With a low whistle, he brought his gun quickly down from his shoulder as a partridge, rising with a gentle whir from the red-topped orchard grass in front of him, skimmed lightly into the golden pathway the sun made through the mist.”
“As I smoked I heard the game begin again -- with a miss in balk this time, for the whir was a short one.”
“As I smoked I heard the game begin again, -- with a miss in balk this time, for the whir was a short one.”
The Lock and Key Library Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern English
“But there is an unmistakable kind of whir and hum in the air.”
“There came a "whir" from a fan above, and a tinkle from a small bell somewhere near at hand.”
“I ordered the 7200 rpm drive and I have noticed that it will continuously "whir" up and down.”
“Add in the nice low rumble and that unique "whir" and that is when it hits you how good it is to have purchased solid tools to assist as you strive to be like David Marks/Norm (even if you know you'll never come close).”
“In the distance, the drum of hooves on the Kenyan savanna faded away and the whir of insects filled the vacuum.”
“The Toyota Prius reduces a tank full of exhaust to the whir of a hybrid electric/ gas engine.”
The Huffington Post: Robert F. Brands: Greenwashing: Electric Cars and Innovation Stalled
“She felt the whir of the rigid cards in her hands as she whispered to them: “What else do I need to know?””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘whir’.
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 242 more...
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sound (quiet)
words for quiet sounds
( randomness, descriptive )sigh, murmur, whisper, whir, rustle, patter, hum, snap, hiss(sss), crackle, bleat, peep and 185 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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Words For Novel
viridity, effigy, paragon, congested, acrid, lilting, clandestine, plethora, accolade, sardonic, naïve, reckoning and 285 more...
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andystardust's Words
liminal, soporific, solipsism, calumny, sanguine, egregious, inimical, corpus, divulge, a fortiori, salutary, evanescence and 118 more...
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New Words
smarmy, purge, linger, shimmer, fiercely, frantically, shove, grunt, errand, clench, wriggle, squeeze and 168 more...
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The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Words gatherd while reading The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
eiderdown, sowbelly, shambling, linthead, bohunk, lingeringly, undervest, rosette, scroughe, gramophone, nair, tousle and 28 more...
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inacrateofnectarines
sounds as good as it means
dreamscape, wasteland, camber, eldritch, fiasco, shroud, verisimilitude, aubergine, attenuate, lavalier, calibrate, instantiate and 84 more...
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.sound
canticle, chord, dissonant, hitch, purl, hush, timbre, trill, howl, whir, thrum, peal and 11 more...
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sound words
words that indicate sounds
sough, susurration, murmur, burble, gurgle, tintinnabulation, tinkle, rumble, rustle, whir, hum, buzz and 21 more...
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Trout Mask Replica
Lyrics from the Captain Beefheart album
frownland, dove-winged, bobbin, tote'n, scamperin', krimpt, spam, limbo, bimbo, dachau, bulbous, nitty and 80 more...
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Pop Whiz
Onomatopoetic.
pop, whiz, flush, bang, whap, splat, fizz, spritz, biff, clang, zoom, hiss and 17 more...
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Biff!
Onomatopoeic words (particularly for fights)
bang, clang, clap, whir, whiz, whoosh, zap, zing, zoom, rip, scrunch, biff and 5 more...
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Dythe's Words
davenport, perpendicular, pinnacle, dirge, plethora, giraffe, boolean, liquid, fiasco, october, okay, celsius and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for whir.
rolig also whirr. Dec 12, 2007