whirl

Meanings

1. To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly.
2. To have a sensation of spinning or reeling.
3. To make something or someone whirl.
4. To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch.

1. An act of whirling.
2. Something that whirls, such as a whirlwind.
3. A confused tumult.
4. A rapid series of events.
5. Dizziness or giddiness.
6. A brief experiment or trial.

Etymology

From Middle English whirlen, contracted from earlier *whirvelen, *whervelen, possibly from Old English *hwyrflian, *hweorflian (attested in hwirflung, hwerflung (“change, vicissitude”)), frequentative form of Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), itself from Proto-West Germanic *hwerban, from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną (“to turn”); or perhaps from Old Norse hvirfla (“to go round, spin”). Cognate with Dutch wervelen (“to whirl, swirl”), German wirbeln (“to whirl, swirl”), Danish hvirvle (“to whirl”), Swedish virvla (older spelling hvirfla), Albanian vorbull (“a whirl”). Related to whirr and wharve.