Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Whim |
WhimNoun1. A sudden desire; "he bought it on impulse". 2. A whimsical idea; "the theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "whim" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Mining | A. A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horsepower or steam power. Used to raise coal, water, etc., from a mine. Also called: whimsey; whim gin; horse gin b. Drum on which a hoisting rope is coiled. Also spelled we. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Adventures of Wim or Whim is a book by George Cockcroft, written under the pen name Luke Rhinehart. It was published (as Adventures of Whim) in 1986, and was sold as "The sequel, well almost, to The Dice Man". This version is no longer in print. A "major reworking" of the book was later published under the title of Whim in 2002. It is possibly the best of Luke's books.Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers
The book takes Luke's style to its logical conclusion, as the entire book is made up of sections taken from other, fictional books. The preface to the book claims that it was written in Deya, Majorca, in 2326. According to the book, an entire industry has grown up publishing books about a Montauk named Wim - including The Gospel According to Luke (Luke Forth, not Luke Rhinehart) and the screenplay of a movie. The screenplay is possibly in there as a result of Luke Rhinehart's continuing frustration in trying to get The Dice Man turned into a good movie. Adventures of Wim, then, is an effort to create a new interpretation of the story of Wim, drawing on the many previous efforts, and so providing a multi-faceted and whimsical account of 'one of the greatest figures in the 20th and 21st Century'.
A boy is born of a virgin mother and is named "Wim" (in Adventures of Wim) or "Whim" (in The Book of the Die and Whim): Montauk for "Wave Rider". He is pronounced to be the saviour of the Montauk nation by his tribe's navigator, and educated in their ways. Sadly, the humans steal him away and attempt to educate him in more useful skills, such as American Football. Wim, also known as "He of Many Chances", proves to be an inefficient saviour, as God sends him on a quest for Ultimate Truth. This does not seem to be something that will benefit his tribe terribly, but the navigator isn't one to stare down the barrel of a lightning gun, and sends him on his way. After a long and arduous search, Wim finds ultimate truth (in a potato), and with it the cure for the sickness of the human condition.
There's a lot of philosophy in this book, and it's a more open view than in previous books. The book ties in with the views of The Dice Man, but in a softer and more accepting way, and with more paths to enlightenment. It's also the funniest book Luke has written to date. If that's not enough, then you should definitely read this book to learn how to do that perfect basketball hook shot.
The various versions of the book are:
- ISBN 0-24-612-769-4 - May 22, 1986 (Adventures of Whim, hardcover, UK)
- ISBN 0-58-606-752-3 - November 19, 1987 (Adventures of Whim, paperback, UK)
- ISBN 1-40-334-799-9 - 2002 (Whim, hardcover)
- ISBN 1-40-334-798-0 - 2002 (Whim, paperback)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Adventures of Wim."
Synonyms: WhimSynonyms: caprice (n), impulse (n), notion (n), vagary (n), whimsey (n), whimsy (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Caprice | Noun: caprice, fancy, humor; whim, whimsy, whimsey, whimwham; crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade, wild-goose chase; capriciousness; Adjective: kink. |
Desire | Desideratum; want; (requirement); "a consummation devoutly to be wished "; attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol; whim, whimsy, whimsey; maggot; hobby, hobby-horse. |
Imagination | Conceit, maggot, figment, myth, dream, vision, shadow, chimera; phantasm, phantasy; fantasy, fancy; whim, whimsey, whimsy; vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest, geste, extravaganza; air drawn dagger, bugbear, nightmare. |
Wit | Noun: wit, humor, wittiness; sense of humor; attic wit, attic salt; atticism; salt, esprit, point, fancy, whim, drollery, pleasantry. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Whim |
| English words defined with "whim": arbitrariness ♦ Bluegown, Boutade ♦ capricious, capriciousness, Crincum-crancum ♦ Figary, Flam, flightiness, Flisk ♦ Gin wheel ♦ Hobbyhorsical ♦ impulsive ♦ Out of humor ♦ The fancy ♦ Whim gin, Whim shaft, whimsey, whimsical, whimsicality, whimsy, Whimwham. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "whim": LETCH ♦ shelfware ♦ TRINGUM TRANGUM ♦ whim driver. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "whim": Whimwham. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Laughter is a devilish whim which deforms, uh, the lineaments of the face and makes men look like monkeys (Name der Rose, Der; writing credit: Andrew Birkin; Gérard Brach) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Paul Reiser Out on a Whim (1988) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Stern, residence at 11 Garden Ln., New Orleans, Louisiana. Whim. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Wite out" by Jennifer Lin Commentary: "Was taken on a whim." | "Camaro at Sunset 2" by Joseph Nicklo Commentary: "Another shot of my car for all of you to use at your whim. Please email me joe@anticubicle.com if you use this. I'm interested to see what you come up with." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Churchill | Though by whim, envy, or resentment led, they damn those authors whom they never read. |
Robert Burchfield | The English language is rather like a monster accordion, stretchable at the whim of the editor, compressible ad lib. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | Bulgaria | A number of religious groups have complained that foreign-national missionaries and religious leaders experienced difficulties in obtaining and renewing residence visas in the country; the issuance of residence visas appeared to be subject to the whim of individual authorities. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Whim" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.00% of the time. "Whim" is used about 233 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97% | 226 | 20,021 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.15% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.86% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 233 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "whim": whim gin ♦ whim shaft. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "whim": whim-illusion, whim-wham. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
whim | 78 |
wall whim | 14 |
bead whim | 5 |
dragon whim | 3 |
doodle so whim | 3 |
country whim | 3 |
symbol whim | 2 |
goddess whim | 2 |
wedding whim | 2 |
whim ze.com | 2 |
whim wonder | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "whim"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | trill (caprice, crotchet, device, deviltry, fad, fancy, fantasy, freak, kink, phantasy, vagary, wantonness, whimsy), tekë (caprice, fancy, freak, kink, vagary, whimsy), teka (caprice, fancy), kapriç (freak, vagary, whimsy). (various references) | |
Arabic | هوى (aerate, air, fan, fantasy, freak, inclination, love, passion, phantasy, sentiment, vagary), نزوة (caprice, crank, fancy, fantasy, freak, heat, maggot, phantasy, quirk, vagary, whimsy), رحوية المناجم. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | хрумване (fancy, flash, idea, impulse, inspiration, notion, quirk, whimsy, whim-wham), прищявка (caprice, crotchet, fad, fizgig, kink, maggot, megrim, vagary, whimsy, whim-wham). (various references) | |
Chinese | 异想天开 (Whimsical). (various references) | |
Czech | vrtoch (fancy, freak, megrim, vagary), rozmar (caprice, fantasy, freak, megrim, vagary), kapric. (various references) | |
Dutch | nuk (caprice), kuur (caprice, treatment), gril (caprice), bui (caprice), bevlieging (caprice). (various references) | |
Esperanto | kaprico (caprice). (various references) | |
Faeroese | innskot (caprice), heilaspuni (caprice, fantasy). (various references) | |
Farsi | هوی وهوس (Vagary), هوس (Caprice, Fancy, Gee, Heartthrob, Libido, Lust, Scape, Whimsy), وهم (Delusion, Fancy, Fiction, Mirage, Specter), وسواس (Maggot, Obsession, Scape, Scrupulosity, Whimsy), تلون مزاج (Whimsy), تغییرناگهانی (Mutation, Quirk, Revulsion), خیال (Design, Dump, Fancy, Fiction, Ghost, Humor, Idea, Ideology, Imaginary, Impression, Intention, Mind, Notion, Plan, Spectrum, Thought, Vision, Wraith). (various references) | |
Finnish | päähänpisto (idea, notion), omituinen mielijohde (caprice, quirk), oikku (caprice, whin). (various references) | |
French | caprice (whimsy). (various references) | |
German | Laune (caprice, fancy, frame, freak, humor, humour, mood, quirk, spirit, sulkiness, temper, vagary, vein, whimsy). (various references) | |
Greek | καπρίτσιο (caprice, fancy, whimsy), ιδιοτροπία (caprice, crankiness, crotchetiness, faddiness, fancy, freak, kink, maggot, moodiness, quirk, tetchiness, vagary, whimsicalness, whimsy), φαντασιοπληξία (fad, vagary). (various references) | |
Hebrew | תעלול (antic, caper, caprice, hoax, machination, mischief, practical joke, prank, quip, rag, trick), שגיון (caprice, fancy, fixed idea, foible, idee fixe), שגעון (absurdity, craziness, insanity, kink, lunacy, madness, mania, quirk), קפריסה (caprice, foible, kink, vagary), גחמה (caprice, vagary). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szeszély (caprice, fancy, fantasy, fit, kink, maggot, tantrum, whimsy), hóbort (caprice, craze, eccentricity, fad, vagary, whimsy). (various references) | |
Indonesian | seloroh (caprice, freak, gag, tic, vagary), canda (caprice, freak, gag, tic, vagary). (various references) | |
Italian | capriccio (caprice, device, fad, fancy, freak, kink, maggot, mood, sulkiness, vagary, whimsy). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 酔狂 (vagary). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すいきょう (information, instruction, vagary), きまぐれ (caprice, fickle, moody, uneven temper, whimsy), うつりぎ (capriciousness, fickleness, frivolity, inconstant), わがまま (disobedience, egoism, selfishness, wilfulness, willfulness). (various references) | |
Korean | 변덕 (Caprice). (various references) | |
Manx | winlass cabbil, teaym (attack, bout, bout of sickness, caprice, fad, fit, mood, notion, seizure, spasm, swoon, vagary). (various references) | |
Papiamen | capricho (caprice). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | imwhay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | fantasia (caprice, chimera, crotchet, doss, dream, fable, fairytale, fancy, fantasia, fantasy, freak, idea, illusion, imagination, invention, legend, maggot, moonshine, phantasm, phantasy, reverie, unreality, vagary, vapor, vapour, whimsical), capricho (caprice, crank, craze, crotchet, fad, freak, gambade, humor, humour, maggot, vagary, whimsical, whimsy). (various references) | |
Romanian | toanã (caprice, crotchet, fancy, freak, humor, humour, vagary, whimsy), scripete (pulley, whip, windlass), mofturi (airs and graces, fiddlesticks, flim-flam, to-do, trifles, whims), macara (camel, crane, Derrick, winch, windlass), ifos (vanity), ciudãţenie (behavior, behaviour, curio, curiosity, eccentricity, extravagance, freak, kink, oddity, oddment, oddness, originality, peculiarity, queerness, quip, singularity, strangeness, vagary, whimsicality), chef (bacchanalia, banquet, binge, blow out, booze, bust, carousal, damp, debauch, do, drinking bout, fancy, feast, good cheer, libation, racket, relish, revel, spread, spree, wish), capriciu (caprice, crotchet, fad, fancy, freak, notion, quirk, whimsy). (various references) | |
Russian | каприз (caprice, fancy, fit, freak, vagary, wantonness, whimsey, whimsy), прихоть (crank, whims, whimsy). (various references) | |
Scottish | tramailt (a whim), magaid (a whim). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | kapric (caprice, quirk), ćef (caprice, quirk). (various references) | |
Spanish | capricho (capriccio, caprice, fancy, fantasy, freak, humor, humour, mood, notion, obstinacy, phantasy, quirk, sulkiness, vagary, waywardness, whimsey, whimsy). (various references) | |
Swedish | nyck (caprice, crotchet, fad, fancy, freak, humor, humour, quirk, vagary, whimsicality, whimsy), infall (crotchet, fancy, freak, idea, incursion, irruption, on the occasion of, vagary, whimsicality). (various references) | |
Turkish | merak (anxiety, avocation, bug, care, concern, crotchet, curiosity, disquiet, disquietude, fad, fancy, hobby, interest, sensation, wonderment, worry), kapris (caprice, fancy, fit, freak, kink, vagary, waywardness, whimsey, whimsy), heves (alacrity, ambition, anxiety, Ardor, ardour, brio, cult, desire, eagerness, enthusiasm, fad, fancy, fit, freak, furor, furore, grace, inclination, itch, keenness, maggot, nine days' wonder, notion, relish, stomach, studiousness, whimsey, whimsy, zeal), geçici istek (whimsey, whimsy), bocurgat (capstan, sling, winch, windlass). (various references) | |
Turkmen | nдz (coquetry, flirting). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | коловорот (angle-brace, brace, brog, capstan, hand-brace, hauler, pulley, vortex, whirl, whirlpool, zodiac), непостійність (caprice, changeability, fickleness, instability, volatility), жадати (ache for, covet, crave, crave for, hunger, pine, thirst, will, wish for), примха (buzz, caprice, fad, fancy, fantasy, freak, maggot, megrim, vagary, wantonness, whimsey, whimsy). (various references) | |
Welsh | mympwy (caprice, fad). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | libido. (various references) |
| Italian | 900-Modern | capriccio. (various references) |
| French | 1500-Modern | caprice. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "whim": whimbrel, whimbrels, whimper, whimpered, whimpering, whimpers, whims, whimsey, whimseys, whimsical, whimsicalities, whimsicality, whimsically, whimsicalness, whimsicalnesses, whimsied, whimsies, whimsy. (additional references) | |
| |
"Whim" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ahim, Fhima, Hhmi, Hwi, Nhim, phim, rhim, weim, whamo, whem, whi, whic, whid, whie, whij, whil, whime, whimp, whimz, whind, whing, whino, whiq, whirm, whix, whome, wiam, wih, wim, wrim, zhim. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "whim" (pronounced wi"m or hwi"m) |
| 3 | w i" m | swim. |
| 2 | -i" m | brim, Mim, prelim, prim, dim, grim, gym, him, hymn, kibbutzim, limb, rim, shim, Sim, skim, slim, trim, vim. |
| 3 | -w i" m | swim. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "h-i-m-w" | |
-1 letter: him. | |
-2 letters: hi, hm, mi. | |
| Words containing the letters "h-i-m-w" | |
+1 letter: whims. | |
+2 letters: whilom, whimsy. | |
+3 letters: mawkish, wampish, warmish, whimper, whimsey, wholism, wimpish, wormish. | |
+4 letters: chowtime, fishworm, hairworm, inchworm, midwatch, misthrew, misthrow, shipworm, showtime, swampish, weighman, weighmen, whammies, whamming, whelming, whimbrel, whimpers, whimseys, whimsied, whimsies, whipworm, wholisms, whomping, whumping, womanish. | |
+5 letters: chowtimes, fishworms, hairworms, inchworms, mawkishly, meanwhile, misthrown, misthrows, scrimshaw, shipworms, showtimes, switchman, switchmen, wampished, wampishes, whimbrels, whimpered, whimsical, whipworms, wordsmith. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
