whirl

Meaning

Verb

1. To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly.
2. To have a sensation of spinning or reeling.
3. To make something or someone whirl.
4. To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch.

Noun

1. An act of whirling.
2. Something that whirls.
3. A confused tumult.
4. A rapid series of events.
5. Dizziness or giddiness.
6. (informal) (usually following “give”) A brief experiment or trial.

Synonyms

spin

swirl

twirl

reel

rotate

revolve

turn

eddy

whirlpool

vortex

twist

roll

maelstrom

curl

gyrate

fling

brandish

turn round

twiddle

go round

wave

👋

wheel

🛞

birl

beat

swing

go

pirouette

tumble

turn around

twisting

wag

wave about

wield

wind

rotation

flourish

whirl around

stagger

purl

crack

pivot

pass

offer

whirlwind

whirring

going round

whizz

whizzing

circle

⭕

stir up

revolve extremely fast

run

convolution

spin around

incite

stir

turn over

commotion

arouse

veer

agitate

raise

revolution

swirling

troll

🧌

vorticity

waterspout

whip

whistling

mill about

move to and fro

roll about

toss about

going round and round

be dizzy

be curled up

go round in a circle

roll into a coil

birle

wind spirally

throw

bend

blend

bump

clew

clue

coil

confusion

dizziness

drive

encircle

experiment

experimentation

foray

froth

get

get around

giddiness

giddy

ground loop

gyration

gyre

haste

hovering

hurry

invert

loop

➿

merry-go-round

mill

mingle

mix

move in a circle

muddle

puff out

racket

ratchet

relay

resend

return

reverse

scatter

scurry

send back

shake

shuffle

spiral

stirabout

surround

swim

🏊

switch on

swivel

testing

aggro

tizzy

tornado

🌪️

spiral up

transit

trundle

try

turbine

turbulence

turning

turn on

unrest

vertigo

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wɜːl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: whirlen

Inherited from Old English: *hwyrflian

Cognate with Dutch: wervelen

Cognate with German: wirbeln

Cognate with Danish: hvirvle

Cognate with Swedish: virvla

Cognate with Albanian: vorbull

Inherited from Middle English: whirl

Inherited from Old English: hwirfel

Cognate with Danish: hvirvel

Cognate with Dutch: werveling

Cognate with German: Wirbel

In summary

From Middle English whirlen, contracted from earlier *whirvelen, *whervelen, possibly from Old English *hwyrflian, *hweorflian (attested in hwirflung, hwerflung (“change, vicissitude”)), frequentative form of Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), itself from Proto-West Germanic *hwerban, from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną (“to turn”); or perhaps from Old Norse hvirfla (“to go round, spin”). Cognate with Dutch wervelen (“to whirl, swirl”), German wirbeln (“to whirl, swirl”), Danish hvirvle (“to whirl”), Swedish virvla (older spelling hvirfla), Albanian vorbull (“a whirl”). Related to whirr and wharve.