whisker

[ hwis-ker, wis- ]
See synonyms for: whiskerwhiskers on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. whiskers, a beard.

  2. Usually whiskers. side whiskers.

  1. a single hair of the beard.

  2. Archaic. a mustache.

  3. one of the long, stiff, bristly hairs growing about the mouth of certain animals, as the cat or rat; vibrissa.

  4. Also called whisker boom, whisker pole .Nautical. any spar for extending the clew or clews of a sail so that it can catch more wind.

  5. Radio, Electronics. cat whisker.

  6. Crystallography. a thin filament of a crystal, usually several millimeters long and one to two microns in diameter, having unusually great strength.

Idioms about whisker

  1. by a whisker, by the narrowest margin: She won the race by a whisker.

Origin of whisker

1
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at whisk, -er1

Other words from whisker

  • whisk·er·y, adjective

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

How to use whisker in a sentence

  • Sol laughed out of his whiskers, with a big, loose-rolling sound, and sat on the porch without waiting to be asked.

    The Bondboy | George W. (George Washington) Ogden
  • Under the internal pressure his whiskers stood on end and his face grew red.

    The Bondboy | George W. (George Washington) Ogden
  • One is of my own poor sex, a man, a thing of whiskers; the other has the honour to belong to that sex which—have I said it?

    First Plays | A. A. Milne
  • The black wig and whiskers lay near him; but the real hair, light and scanty, was pushed back from the damp brow.

    Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood
  • There the man has lived—if you can call such an existence living; Willy Gum, concealed by his borrowed black hair and whiskers.

    Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood

British Dictionary definitions for whisker

whisker

/ (ˈwɪskə) /


noun
  1. any of the stiff sensory hairs growing on the face of a cat, rat, or other mammal: Technical name: vibrissa

  2. any of the hairs growing on a person's face, esp on the cheeks or chin

  1. (plural) a beard or that part of it growing on the sides of the face

  2. (plural) informal a moustache

  3. Also called: whisker boom, whisker pole any light spar used for extending the clews of a sail, esp in light airs

  4. chem a very fine filamentary crystal having greater strength than the bulk material since it is a single crystal. Such crystals often show unusual electrical properties

  5. a person or thing that whisks

  6. a narrow margin; a small distance: he escaped death by a whisker

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with whisker

whisker

see by a hair (whisker); win by a nose (whisker).

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.