WHIRLING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does whirling mean? 

• WHIRLING (noun)
  The noun WHIRLING has 1 sense:

1. the act of rotating in a circle or spiral

  Familiarity information: WHIRLING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHIRLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of rotating in a circle or spiral

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

gyration; whirling

Hypernyms ("whirling" is a kind of...):

rotary motion; rotation (the act of rotating as if on an axis)

Derivation:

whirl (turn in a twisting or spinning motion)

 Context examples 

"How was I to know the way of the white man is never twice the same?" the old man demanded, whirling upon me fiercely.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“Hard up, there!” Wolf Larsen shouted, himself springing to the wheel and whirling it over.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away towards the castle, and were lost.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

NGC 1055 appears to lack the whirling arms characteristic of a spiral, as it is seen edge-on.

(A Galaxy on the Edge, ESO)

Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

He concentrated upon that face; all else about him was a whirling void.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The research revealed that blue sharks spent a good portion of their days using these whirling pockets of warm water to find prey.

(Blue sharks use ocean eddies as fast-tracks to food, National Science Foundation)

Hubble clocked material whirling around the black hole as moving at more than 10% of the speed of light.

(Hubble Uncovers Black Hole Disk that Shouldn't Exist, NASA)

New thoughts and hopes were whirling through my mind, and all the colours of my life were changing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)