wheen

[ hween, ween ]

adjective
  1. few.

noun
  1. a few persons or things.

Origin of wheen

1
1325–75; Middle English (north) quheyn,Old English hwēne, instrumental case of hwōn few, a few

Words Nearby wheen

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wheen in a sentence

  • I'm saying—my lads—will ye gie ower this weary warrk a wee whilee and sheer a wheen sheep to me?

  • I've written books myself, and who reads them but a wheen of graybeards, and they drowsing by the fire?

    The Wind Bloweth | Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne
  • A similar tendency is in the sound of whine, which in Munster is always made wheen: 'What's that poor child wheening for?'

  • wheen; a small number, a small quantity:—'I was working for a wheen o' days': 'I'll eat a wheen of these gooseberries.'

  • Weel, sir, there's a guid wheen veesitors in Inverness the noo: so sit whaur ye can see yer umbrella!

British Dictionary definitions for wheen

wheen

/ (wiːn, Scottish hwiːn) /


determinerScot and Northern English dialect
  1. few; some

  2. (preceded by a)

    • a small number of

    • a good number of

    • (as pronoun; functioning as plural): a wheen of years

Origin of wheen

1
Old English hwēne, instrumental of hwōn few, a few

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012