whisker

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word whisker. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word whisker, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say whisker in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word whisker you have here. The definition of the word whisker will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofwhisker, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Whisker

English

Zinc whiskers (8) (tendrils that form on metal).

Etymology

Middle English wisker, whisk (verb) +‎ -er

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʍɪskə(ɹ)/, /wɪskə(ɹ)/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪskə(ɹ)

Noun

whisker (plural whiskers)

  1. That part of the beard which grows upon the sides of the face, usually of the male, or upon the chin, or upon both.
  2. A hair of the beard.
  3. One of the long, projecting hairs growing at the sides of the mouth of a cat, or other animal.
  4. (colloquial) The (very small) distance between two things.
    It missed falling on your foot by a whisker.
    • 2011 May 14, Peter Scrivener, “Sunderland 1 - 3 Wolverhampton”, in BBC Sport‎:
      Boosted by their reward, Wolves continued to push forward and Jamie O'Hara came within a whisker of doubling the lead, smashing a 25-yard effort on to the bar.
  5. (nautical) Spreaders from the bows to spread the bowsprit shrouds.
  6. (statistics) A graphic element that shows the maxima and minima in a box plot.
  7. One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
  8. (metallurgy) A small tendril that forms on metal.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “whisker”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia