Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An American hesperiid butterfly, Thymelicus brettus, occurring along the coast from Connecticut to Mexico.
  • noun Something that whirls with velocity; a whirligig.
  • noun A great fish of the whale kind; a whirl-whale.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Something that whirls or turns about in a rapid manner; a whirligig.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fairground carousel.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

whirl +‎ about

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Examples

  • And yet the sudden whirlabout to all her thoughts and habits and ways, was very confusing.

    The Gold of Chickaree Susan Warner 1852

  • "Don't look at those whirlabout sails, but come let us go and see the house of Peter the Great, which was the chief object of our visit to this place."

    Voyages and Travels of Count Funnibos and Baron Stilkin William Henry Giles Kingston 1847

  • "Grundy, meanwhile, is in a state of complete whirlabout.

    Tono Bungay 1906

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