whiffle
To blow a short gustTo blow a short gust.
Meaning
9 sensesTo blow a short gust.
To waffle, talk aimlessly.
(UK)To waste time.
To travel quickly with an accompanying wind-like sound; whizz, whistle along.
To descend rapidly from a height once the decision to land has been made, involving fast side-slipping first one way and then the other.
(intransitive)To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
(transitive)To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle.
To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter.
Origin
1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”, as whiff + -le (“(frequentative)”) and (onomato1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”, as whiff + -le (“(frequentative)”) and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
whiffles, whiffling, whiffled, whiffledWord family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle