Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small bunch or bundle, as of straw, hair, or grass.
- n. One that is thin, frail, or slight.
- n. A thin or faint streak or fragment, as of smoke or clouds.
- n. A fleeting trace or indication; a hint: a wisp of a smile.
- n. A flock of birds, especially snipe. See Synonyms at flock1.
- n. See ignis fatuus.
- v. To twist into wisps or a wisp.
- v. To drift in wisps: smoke wisping from chimneys.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A handful or small bundle, as of straw or hay; a twisted handful.
- n. A whisk, or small broom.
- n. An ignis fatuus, or will-o'-the-wisp.
- n. A disease in cattle, consisting in inflammation and suppuration of the interdigital tissues, most commonly of the hind feet. It may be due to the irritation of dirt, to overgrowth of the hoof, or other causes. Also called
foul in the foot . Alsowhisp . - n. In falconry, a flight or walk of snipe. =Syn.5. Covey, etc. See
flock . - To brush, dress, or rub down with or as with a wisp.
- To rumple.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance.
- n. A whisk, or small broom.
- n. A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus.
- v. To brush or dress, an with a wisp.
- v. To rumple.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a small person
- n. a small tuft or lock
- n. a flock of snipe
- n. a small bundle of straw or hay
Etymologies
- Middle English.
Examples
“And finally we see the spirit -- delicate, ethereal, a "faint ochre-colored cloud", a "thin wisp", "motes of dust dancing in the narrow beams of the robot's gaze" -- put into the robot/car, merged with it and transforming it into a deeply strange fusion of robot, automobile and rock.”
“You don’t see that subverting all the hard earned rights of americans, to protect against a will o the wisp is clearly unpatriotic?”
Think Progress » Rep. King: NYT Reporters Should Be Charged Under Espionage Act
“A flock of snipe is called a wisp, although you usually flush them in singles and pairs.”
“One such will o' the wisp was the claim in various Scottish media that the billionaire might join an investment group in refurbishing Lews Castle as a luxury hotel.”
“Self-evidence is often a mere will-o'-the-wisp, which is sure to lead us astray if we take it as our guide.”
“Another assumption about the Levy on Capital that seems to me to be the merest will o 'the wisp is the delusion that the whole saving that it would entail by reducing the debt charge would necessarily and certainly go to the relief of income tax.”
“The old feudal lords would swear by the Almighty Father, or the Son, or Holy Ghost, or by everything sacred on earth, and break their oaths as they would break a wisp of straw: but if you could get one of them to swear by the Three Kings of Cologne, he was fast; for that oath he dare not disregard.”
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner
“In olden days, it was personified as "Will with the wisp," a sprite who carried a fleeting "wisp" of light.”
“The "wisp" of a Scherzo in D Minor gravitates between Liszt's diabolism and the introspective gravitas of the late piano music.”
“Don't let winter "wisp" past you these next coming months.”
WN.com - Articles related to Hawaii on sale: How to find deals on airfares, hotels and car rentals
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wisp’.
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vocab 3
predilection, vagrant, stint, insinuate, incendiary, heedless, nonchalant, writhe, queasy, incandescest, hauteur, castigate and 24 more...
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awesome words
Words that mean cool things
helmer, gris, vamp, skuld, sapsuckers, couple, mushroom-headed, neologist, grayish-pink, slipstream, toad, bada-bing and 45 more...
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Words the sound like their meaning
love, hate, butterfly, whisper, shout, boil, simmer, glide, kiss, wisp, hum, hammer and 30 more...
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Shopping From Home (For Words)
The list begins with evocative words I found in a Bed Bath & Beyond catalog, but other words in a similar vein are welcome, with two simple rules: they must come out of catalogs, and they can't...
sconce, mercer, urn, crock, pique, taffeta, chenille, ensemble, crescent, flocked, stockpot, microfiber and 40 more...
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mbmontague's list
This is a list of words I like or words that baffle me.
inchoate, praeternatural, articulate, ideation, pungent, polemic, cogent, aberrant, salient, wisp, withe, nexus and 24 more...
hernesheir A medicinal marijuana strain name. Jan 15, 2010