wisp

[ wisp ]
See synonyms for wisp on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a handful or small bundle of straw, hay, or the like.

  2. any thin tuft, lock, mass, etc.: wisps of hair.

  1. a thin puff or streak, as of smoke; slender trace.

  2. a person or thing that is small, delicate, or barely discernible: a mere wisp of a lad; a wisp of a frown.

  3. a whisk broom.

  4. Chiefly British Dialect.

    • a pad or twist of straw, as used to rub down a horse.

    • a twisted bit of straw used as a torch.

  5. a will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus.

verb (used with object)
  1. to twist into a wisp.

Origin of wisp

1
1300–50; Middle English wisp, wips; akin to wipe

Other words from wisp

  • wisplike, adjective

Words Nearby wisp

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

How to use wisp in a sentence

  • A thin man with a wisp of a goatee beard, he struggles with a stutter to explain what happened to him that day.

  • Sleek finds it far harder work than fortune-making; but he pursues his Will-o'-the-wisp with untiring energy.

  • Rosemary flitted about like a will o' the wisp, and finally went to the window, where she stood looking wistfully out.

  • As she left the wood she saw a big hay-stack, as firm and shapely of outline as a house, not a loose wisp anywhere.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • A wisp of wheat was knotted round her neck for a necklace, and a perfect sheaf of it in her hair.

  • I was told that subsequent to that matter my will-o'-the-wisp was coming on here positively.

    The Weight of the Crown | Fred M. White

British Dictionary definitions for wisp (1 of 2)

wisp

/ (wɪsp) /


noun
  1. a thin, light, delicate, or fibrous piece or strand, such as a streak of smoke or a lock of hair

  2. a small bundle, as of hay or straw

  1. anything slender and delicate: a wisp of a girl

  2. a mere suggestion or hint

  3. a flock of birds, esp snipe

verb
  1. (intr often foll by away) to move or act like a wisp

  2. (tr) mainly British dialect to twist into a wisp

  1. (tr) mainly British to groom (a horse) with a wisp of straw, etc

Origin of wisp

1
C14: variant of wips, of obscure origin; compare wipe

Derived forms of wisp

  • wisplike, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for WISP (2 of 2)

WISP

/ (wɪsp) /


n acronym for
  1. Wireless Information Service Provider: an internet service provider set up to deal with and deliver internet services to clients through wireless access points

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