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
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(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
Ken said he got the idea while working as a custodian in a Kmart and accidentally spilling a bunch of whiffle balls on the floor.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 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
“We had whiffle balls and sponge balls, pinkie balls, starballs, all types of balls. But when you hit that hose it really flew,” said Larry Rubin, 77, who grew up in Oxford Circle.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 17, 2018
Watson is apt to whiffle about, though a prime fellow, if you can once fasten to him, and get him into blue water.
From The Sea Lions The Lost Sealers by James Fenimore Cooper
Her masts curved and whiffled beneath the immense piles of canvas, like a stringed bow.
From The Portland Sketch Book by Various
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
"King," said Sanders—he carried in his hand a rattan cane of familiar shape, and as he spoke he whiffled it in the air, making a little humming noise—"stand up!"
From Sanders of the River by Edgar Wallace
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
Some were merely hunting country, and were ready to be whiffled off toward any neck of the woods which might be puffed up by a wayside acquaintance as ignorant about it as he.
From Vandemark's Folly by Herbert Quick
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
The horses were stamping and whiffling at the edge of the clearing.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
‘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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
