whiffling

With his sword whiffling before him the young Poins could think rapidly -- nay, upon any matter that concerned his advancement he could think rapidly always.

Privy Seal His Last Venture Ford Madox Ford 1906

This is a conjectural analogy, but I can suggest no better solution.] [Footnote 022: Susuffrus: "whiffling," susurrus: "whistling."] [Footnote 023: Spicula: see the picture.] [Footnote 024: Burbur: apparently a labial variation of murmur, stronger but more dissonant.] [Footnote 025: This poem is reproduced here by the kind permission of the proprietors of Punch.]

The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C. L. Dodgson) Stuart Dodgson Collingwood 1903

This is a conjectural analogy, but I can suggest no better solution.] [Footnote 5: _susuffrus_: "whiffling":: _susurrus_: "whistling."] [Footnote 6: _spicula_: see the picture.] [Footnote 7: _burbur_: apparently a labial variation of _murmur_, stronger but more dissonant.] _THE NYUM-NYUM_

A Nonsense Anthology Carolyn Wells 1902

Over one dry slope in a side dale to the Dove proper, I came across a flock of around 200 birds, house martins and swallows, whiffling down like huge quick-winged butterflies just above the tips of the hawthorn bushes.

Country diary: Peak District 2010

He took the carrot indifferently from the man's trembling palm, whiffling it in with his black mobile lips, scrunching it languidly with large rotations of jaw.

The Elvis Latte Allie Dresser 2010

Following the lead of the post-Gingrich Republicans, the legislative Democrats have made themselves the Zelig party -- a band of whiffling spongers frantically avoiding hard issues.

"Why the Democratic Scandals Don't Matter (Yet)." Ann Althouse 2009

Then some student got up and started whiffling about global warning or something Whaaaaaat !

The London Carnival of Nu Liberty Guthrum 2009

I will not live the scorn of each whiffling stranger from the South, because, forsooth, he wears tinkling spurs on a tawney boot.

The Monastery 2008

When she stretched her neck out, making little whiffling sounds with her nostrils, her peeling muzzle just kissed my cheek.

Firehorse Diane Lee Wilson 2006

And we, too, some day would no longer love, having become part of this monstrous, lovely earth, of that cold, whiffling air.

The Inn of Tranquillity: Studies and Essays 2004

The maneuver, called whiffling, is when geese roll their body upside down and twist their neck and head 180 degrees around to its normal position.

Goose flying upside down is simply showing off, say experts 2023