whirl

CEFRB2

/wɜːl/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To turn or move around quickly in circles.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To have a sensation of spinning or reeling.

Examples

  • The whirl uprooted trees and tore roofs from homes, Dykema said.

  • I'll give it a whirl.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /(h)wɝl/
  • /ʍɜːl/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To make something or someone whirl.

  2. To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly.

  3. To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch.

More examples

In context

  • Let's give it a whirl.

  • My head is whirling after all that drink.

  • The dancer whirled across the stage, stopped, and whirled around to face the audience.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The dancer began to blank across the stage in a fast spin.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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.