an abrupt snapping motion or change of direction resembling the lash of a whip.
Also whiplash injury.a neck injury caused by a sudden jerking backward, forward, or both, of the head: Whiplash resulted when their car was struck from behind.
Also called whiplash curve. a connected series of reverse curves of more or less elliptical form, used as a major design motif in the Art Nouveau style.
verb (used with object)
to beat, hit, throw, etc., with or as if with a whiplash.
to affect adversely, as by a sudden change: new taxes whiplashing corporate earnings.
British Dictionary definitions for whiplash injury
whiplash injury
noun
medinformalany injury to the neck resulting from a sudden thrusting forwards and snapping back of the unsupported headTechnical name: hyperextension-hyperflexion injury
whiplash
noun
a quick lash or stroke of a whip or like that of a whip
1570s, "the lash of a whip," from whip (n.) + lash (n.). The injury caused by sudden head motion so called by 1955, in reference to the notion of moving to and fro like a cracking whip. The verb in this sense is recorded by 1971.
A hyperextension-hyperflexion injury to the cervical spine caused by an abrupt jerking movement of the head, either in a backward or forward direction.
