whiffle
Americanverb (used without object)
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to blow in light or shifting gusts or puffs, as the wind; veer or toss about irregularly.
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to shift about; vacillate; be fickle.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to think or behave in an erratic or unpredictable way
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to blow or be blown fitfully or in gusts
-
(intr) to whistle softly
Etymology
Origin of whiffle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Pickleball is played with a paddle and a plastic ball similar to a whiffle ball.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2022
You play with big wooden paddles, and the ball is basically a whiffle ball, plastic and perforated so it slows down in flight and doesn’t bounce very high.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2020
Although, she does have a knack for tossing those little whiffle balls into the most unreachable places possible.
From Golf Digest ● Jan. 14, 2020
In 2015, it began a program, Play Ball, that promotes informal baseball- and softball-related games such as whiffle ball and stickball.
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2017
Exactly, for Amy keeps me pointing due west most of the time, with only an occasional whiffle round to the south, and I haven't had an easterly spell since I was married.
From Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Her masts curved and whiffled beneath the immense piles of canvas, like a stringed bow.
From The Portland Sketch Book by Various
That night I watched the poppling brew, With bended back and hand on knee: I stirred it till the dawnlight grew, And the wind whiffled wailfully.
From Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy
I haven't an idea why you have whiffled around again, but I do know it will ruin your reputation.
From Frank Merriwell's Return to Yale by Burt L. Standish
A fast train whiffled through the town and they baggage-hooked a mailbag off the car at about a hundred and fifty per.
From Highways in Hiding by George Oliver Smith
Saddle-horses were tied in front, heads hanging and feet knuckled askew with long waiting, and from inside an uneven, riotous din whiffled lightly across the river and intervening meadow to the hill.
From The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories by Owen Wister
When she tries to laugh she makes “a whiffling sound” that disgusts her.
From Economist ● Feb. 19, 2015
He delivers the laughs, but they can't drown out a good deal of creaking, clanking and whiffling.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgy wood, And burbled as he came!
From Time Magazine Archive
‘But the others will be whiffling off to all sorts of flungaway places like Wellington for the booty flavour and Panama for the hatty taste. Every giant is having his own favourite hunting ground.’
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
The horses were stamping and whiffling at the edge of the clearing.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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