Whiffle

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪfÉ™l

Alternative forms

• wiffle

Origin

1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”,

Online Etymology Dictionary

as whiff + -le("(frequentive)") and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.

Full definition of whiffle

Noun

1. A short blow or gust
2. (obsolete) Something small or insignificant; a trifle.
3. (obsolete) A fife or small flute.

Verb

1. to blow a short gust
2. to waffle, talk aimlessly
3. (British) to waste time
4. to travel quickly, whizz, whistle, with an accompanying wind-like sound
5. (ornithology, of a bird) to descending rapidly from a height once the decision to land has been made, involving fast side-slipping first one way and then the other
6. (intransitive) To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
7. (transitive) To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
8. To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle.
• I. WattsA person of whiffling and unsteady turn of mind cannot keep close to a point of controversy.
9. To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter.

Derived terms

• wiffleball