wisp
a handful or small bundle of straw, hay, or the like.
any thin tuft, lock, mass, etc.: wisps of hair.
a thin puff or streak, as of smoke; slender trace.
a person or thing that is small, delicate, or barely discernible: a mere wisp of a lad; a wisp of a frown.
a whisk broom.
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.
a will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus.
to twist into a wisp.
Origin of wisp
1Other 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
Memories may seem like amorphous wisps inside a mind, but they have strong neurobiological underpinnings.
A Critical Immune Protein Helps the Brain Link Memories, and Could Combat Aging | Shelly Fan | May 31, 2022 | Singularity HubWisps of fog were rising from the valley between rain showers.
Bumpy rides down La Ruta del Lechón, a stretch of highway known for its roast pork spits, wisps of smoke rising to the sky.
A pernil-style pork tenderloin that conjures the smells of a Puerto Rican kitchen | Daniela Galarza | April 8, 2021 | Washington PostYou could hear wisps of music and smell the earth, freshly turned over by spring worms, and there was a hint of something sugary in the air, something new.
Before You Have That Bonfire of the Stretchy Pants, Consider Some Pandemic Wardrobe Habits You Should Keep | Susanna Schrobsdorff | April 4, 2021 | TimeYou wouldn’t think sound could travel very well on Mars—what with the planet’s bare wisp of an atmosphere, which is just 1% the thickness of ours.
Listen to the Sounds of NASA's Perseverance Rover Driving on Mars | Jeffrey Kluger | March 18, 2021 | Time
A thin man with a wisp of a goatee beard, he struggles with a stutter to explain what happened to him that day.
Photographs Expose Russian-Trained Killers in Kiev | Jamie Dettmer | March 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSleek finds it far harder work than fortune-making; but he pursues his Will-o'-the-wisp with untiring energy.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsRosemary flitted about like a will o' the wisp, and finally went to the window, where she stood looking wistfully out.
Rosemary in Search of a Father | C. N. WilliamsonAs 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 AthertonA wisp of wheat was knotted round her neck for a necklace, and a perfect sheaf of it in her hair.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayI 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)
/ (wɪsp) /
a thin, light, delicate, or fibrous piece or strand, such as a streak of smoke or a lock of hair
a small bundle, as of hay or straw
anything slender and delicate: a wisp of a girl
a mere suggestion or hint
a flock of birds, esp snipe
(intr often foll by away) to move or act like a wisp
(tr) mainly British dialect to twist into a wisp
(tr) mainly British to groom (a horse) with a wisp of straw, etc
Origin of wisp
1Derived forms of wisp
- wisplike, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for WISP (2 of 2)
/ (wɪsp) /
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
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