Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A rapidly rotating current of water; a vortex.
- noun Something, such as a situation, that is confusing or tumultuous and is easy to be drawn into or difficult to get out of.
- noun A bathtub or pool having jets of warm water that can be directed toward a body part as for therapeutic purposes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A circular eddy or current in a river or the sea produced by the configuration of the channel, by meeting currents, by winds meeting tides, etc.
- noun Some huge sea-monster of the whale kind; a whirl-whale; a whirl-about.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a depression or cavity in the center, into which floating objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or the like.
- noun obsolete A sea monster of the whale kind.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
swirling body ofwater . - noun
turmoil , oragitated excitement
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides)
- verb flow in a circular current, of liquids
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word whirlpool.
Examples
-
A home whirlpool is a simple luxury that people can enjoy.
-
It might be a good idea as an option in whirlpool bathtubs if it comes together with the system …
"Bath Safeguard" Measures the Temperature of the Water by Kai Chen » Yanko Design 2008
-
She added that the only time she calls the whirlpool the Old Whirly is when she happens to be inside it.
-
About sunset, coming near the Wild Island, Pantagruel spied afar off a huge monstrous physeter (a sort of whale, which some call a whirlpool), that came right upon us, neighing, snorting, raised above the waves higher than our main-tops, and spouting water all the way into the air before itself, like a large river falling from
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
-
About sunset, coming near the Wild Island, Pantagruel spied afar off a huge monstrous physeter (a sort of whale, which some call a whirlpool), that came right upon us, neighing, snorting, raised above the waves higher than our main-tops, and spouting water all the way into the air before itself, like a large river falling from
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
-
Before the word whirlpool became associated with the relaxing bath that
-
About sunset, coming near the Wild Island, Pantagruel spied afar off a huge monstrous physeter (a sort of whale, which some call a whirlpool), that came right upon us, neighing, snorting, raised above the waves higher than our main-tops, and spouting water all the way into the air before itself, like a large river falling from a mountain.
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 4 Fran��ois Rabelais 1518
-
The 800 Machiguenga Indians who live at the mouth of the Timpia River, below the Pongo, believe that the whirlpool is the portal to the afterlife.
The Gasping Forest Shoumatoff, Alex 2007
-
The whirlpool was a cone rather than a funnel, and I had come to the apex.
The Horror of the Heights Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 1992
-
So, as Huxley says, a living organism is like a flame or a whirlpool, which is an ever changing though seemingly constant individuality.
The Doctrine of Evolution Its Basis and Its Scope Henry Edward Crampton
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.