whisker

[ hwis-ker, wis- ]
See synonyms for: whiskerwhiskers on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. whiskers, a beard.

  2. Usually whiskers. side whiskers.

  1. a single hair of the beard.

  2. Archaic. a mustache.

  3. one of the long, stiff, bristly hairs growing about the mouth of certain animals, as the cat or rat; vibrissa.

  4. Also called whisker boom, whisker pole .Nautical. any spar for extending the clew or clews of a sail so that it can catch more wind.

  5. Radio, Electronics. cat whisker.

  6. Crystallography. a thin filament of a crystal, usually several millimeters long and one to two microns in diameter, having unusually great strength.

Idioms about whisker

  1. by a whisker, by the narrowest margin: She won the race by a whisker.

Origin of whisker

1
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at whisk, -er1

Other words from whisker

  • whisk·er·y, adjective

Words Nearby whisker

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

How to use whisker in a sentence

  • Not anymore: A Rasmussen poll out last week now shows Pryor ahead by a whisker, and the race is now essentially a tie.

  • Some taxidermists actually remove and reinsert each whisker individually by hand to support their biological narrative.

    Cool, Dead, and Stuffed | Melissa Milgrom | March 11, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Todd made a $2,000 donation to charity and kept the goatee by a whisker.

    What Does a Goatee Say About You? | Bryan Curtis | November 12, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • She went quickly through the drawing-room door into the house, leaving Jaffery still scratching a red whisker.

    Jaffery | William J. Locke
  • He had neither whisker nor moustache, which allowed the soft curves of the lower part of his face to be apparent.

    Return of the Native | Thomas Hardy
  • She gathered the three remaining ones together, and fed them and licked them all over tenderly with soft whisker kisses.

    Lives of the Fur Folk | M. D. Haviland
  • The fact, however, was that no whisker could be made to come sufficiently forward to be of service, and therefore he wore none.

    Can You Forgive Her? | Anthony Trollope
  • This officer's face was a whisker plantation, through which his eyes peeped forth like two snakes coiled up in a window-brush.

British Dictionary definitions for whisker

whisker

/ (ˈwɪskə) /


noun
  1. any of the stiff sensory hairs growing on the face of a cat, rat, or other mammal: Technical name: vibrissa

  2. any of the hairs growing on a person's face, esp on the cheeks or chin

  1. (plural) a beard or that part of it growing on the sides of the face

  2. (plural) informal a moustache

  3. Also called: whisker boom, whisker pole any light spar used for extending the clews of a sail, esp in light airs

  4. chem a very fine filamentary crystal having greater strength than the bulk material since it is a single crystal. Such crystals often show unusual electrical properties

  5. a person or thing that whisks

  6. a narrow margin; a small distance: he escaped death by a whisker

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with whisker

whisker

see by a hair (whisker); win by a nose (whisker).

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.