Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Whirligig |
WhirligigNoun1. A conical child's plaything tapering to a steel point on which it can be made to spin; "he got a bright red top and string for his birthday". 2. Large mechanical apparatus with seats for children to ride on. Verb1. Whirl or spin like a whirligig. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "whirligig" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1600. (references) |
Note: Whirligig \Whirl"i*gig\, noun. [Whirl gig.]. (references) |
Synonyms: WhirligigSynonyms: carousel (n), carrousel (n), merry-go-round (n), roundabout (n), spinning top (n), teetotum (n), top (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Rotation | Carousel, merry-go-round; Ferris wheel; top, dreidel,teetotum; gyroscope; turntable, lazy suzan; screw, whirligig, rollingstone, water wheel, windmill; wheel, pulley wheel, roulette wheel, potter's wheel, pinwheel, gear; roller; flywheel; jack; caster; centrifuge, ultracentrifuge, bench centrifuge, refrigerated centrifuge, gas centrifuge, microfuge; drill, augur, oil rig; wagon wheel, wheel, tire, tyre. |
Time | Glass of time, sands of time, march of time, Father Time, ravages of time; arrow of time; river of time, whirligig of time, noiseless foot of time; scythe. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Whirligig |
| English words defined with "whirligig": family Gyrinidae ♦ Gyrinidae ♦ Whirlabout, Whirlwig. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Consumer Goods | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
William Shakespeare | Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. |
| And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Whirligig" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 90.48% of the time. "Whirligig" is used about 21 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) | 90.48% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 4.76% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (proper) | 4.76% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 21 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "whirligig": whirligig beetle. Additional references. | |
| 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. |
| Language | Translations for "whirligig"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rrotaxhile, karusel (carrousel, go round, merry go round, wheel), gërgëre, fugë (fire, fugue, garden warbler, peg top, right away, run, very quickly, whipping top). (various references) | |
Arabic | المدومة لعبة أطفال. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | въртележка (roundabout, turnabout), водовъртеж (caldron, cauldron, gulf, maelstrom, purl, vertiginous current, vortex, whirlpool), вид въртящ се воден бръмбар, пумпал (peg top, top, whipping top). (various references) | |
Czech | vlk (top, wolf), kolotoè (carousel, carrousel, merry go round, roundabout). (various references) | |
Farsi | فرفره (Gig, Spin), چرخک (Caster, Pulley, Trundle), گرش , تصورواهی , سوسکی که روی اب چرخ میخورد. (various references) | |
French | toupie, moulin vent. (various references) | |
Greek | σβούρα (gig, teetotum, top), μύλοσ (mill, mullet). (various references) | |
Hungarian | búgócsiga (gyroscope top, humming top, peg top, ring-taw, spinning top, top). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gasing (top). (various references) | |
Italian | trottola (gyroscopic, spinning top, top). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 水澄 (whirligig beetle). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | みずすまし (whirligig beetle). (various references) | |
Manx | casseyder (twister). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | irligigwhay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | cata-vento (cowl, fairing, vane, weathercock, windmill), carrossel (carousel, carrousel, merry-go-round, roundabout), carapeta. (various references) | |
Romanian | titirez (spinner, top), sfârleazã (peg top, spinner, tectotum, teetotum, top), cãluşei (merry go round, roundabout). (various references) | |
Russian | юла (peg top), карусель (carousel, carrousel, merry go round, merry-go-round, turnabout), волчок (humming top, top, top toy, whipping top). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zvrk (top), ringišpil (carousel, carrousel, merry go round, roundabout), čigra (humming top, peg top, top, whipping top). (various references) | |
Spanish | tiovivo (carousel, carrousel, merry go round, merry-go-round, roundabout), movimiento confuso, molinete (brandish, windmill). (various references) | |
Swedish | snurra (peg top, spin, swivel, top, turn, twirl, twist, whirl, windmill). (various references) | |
Turkish | topaç (humming top, peg top, pegtop, spinner, teetotum, top, whipping top), geçme (contagion, dissemination, encroachment, fitting, intervention, lapse, pass, passage, passing, permeation, slip on, splice, tenon, transit, transmigration), fırıldak (weather vane, weathercock, windmill), deveran (circulation, revolution, rotation), dönme (apostasy, circumvolution, conversion, convert, cycle, deflection, deflexion, facing, gyration, loop, proselyte, renegade, rotation, spin, swing, torsion, tumble, turn, turning, twist, veer, wheel, winding). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | каруселя, вітрогон (featherbrain, skipper, whiffler), вертушка (firecracker, spitdevil), вир (boil, hurl, maelstrom, profound, swirl), завихрення (wash), дзига, дивацтво (crotchet, faddiness, freak, oddity). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự xoay vần, con cù (humming-top, top). (various references) | |
Welsh | chwirligwgan. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "whirligig": whirligigs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Whirligig" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: whirlgig, whirlygig, wirligig. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "whirligig" (pronounced 'Whirl"i*gig'): fishgig, Flirtigig. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-g-h-i-i-i-l-r-w" | |
-4 letters: whirl. | |
-5 letters: girl, grig, hili, liri, whig, whir. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-g-h-i-i-i-l-r-w" | |
+1 letter: whirligigs. | |
| 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: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
