Wisp
[wɪsp]
Definition
(noun.) a small tuft or lock; 'wisps of hair'.
(noun.) a flock of snipe.
(noun.) a small bundle of straw or hay.
(noun.) a small person; 'a mere wisp of a girl'.
Editor: Vanessa--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance.
(n.) A whisk, or small broom.
(n.) A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus.
(v. t.) To brush or dress, an with a wisp.
(v. t.) To rumple.
Edited by Andrea
Definition
n. a small bundle of straw or hay: a small broom: will-o'-the-wisp: a disease affecting the feet of cattle.—v.t. to rub down with a wisp.—adj. Wis′py like a wisp.
Typed by Carolyn
Examples
- I transformed myself into a will-o'-the-wisp. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- There was a thin wisp of his hair straying on his forehead, she noticed that his skin was of a clear brown colour, his hands, his wrists. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It might be but a will-o'-th'-wisp, but he thought he would follow it and ascertain whither it would lead him. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- He afterwards showed me a wisp of hay, and a fetlock full of oats; but I shook my head, to signify that neither of these were food for me. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- I may be on the trail in this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I shall soon know which it is. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The pine trunks below him were hard and clear now, their trunks solid and brown and the road was shiny with a wisp of mist over it. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- They were not will-o'-the-wisps; they were not fireflies; they were not fireworks. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Her colourless hair was untidy, wisps floating down on to her sac coat of dark blue silk, from under her blue silk hat. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It would be an endless task to hunt down all the masks, the will-o'-the-wisps and the shadows which divert us from our real purpose. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Typed by Jewel