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whiz1

or whizz

[hwiz, wiz]
See more synonyms for whiz on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object), whizzed, whiz·zing.
  1. to make a humming, buzzing, or hissing sound, as an object passing swiftly through the air.
  2. to move or rush with such a sound: The angry hornets whizzed by in a cloud.
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verb (used with object), whizzed, whiz·zing.
  1. to cause to whiz.
  2. to treat with a whizzer.
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noun
  1. Informal. a person who is quite good at a particular activity, in a certain field, etc.: She's a whiz at math.
  2. the sound of a whizzing object.
  3. a swift movement producing such a sound.
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Origin of whiz1

1540–50; imitative; cf. fizz
Related formswhiz·zing·ly, adverb

whiz2

[hwiz, wiz]
noun
  1. wizard(def 3).
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Origin of whiz2

by shortening
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for whizzes

Historical Examples

  • She whizzes round the table like a cyclone and catches both his hands in hers.

    Roads of Destiny

    O. Henry

  • He mistimes it; it grazes the edge of his bat, and whizzes off far to the right of Scaife, but the Demon has it.

    The Hill

    Horace Annesley Vachell

  • I confess that I cannot ride in a motor-car that whizzes past other motor-cars without an absurd and irrational vanity.

    Windfalls

    (AKA Alpha of the Plough) Alfred George Gardiner

  • Women cab drivers are not very numerous, but every now and then one of them whizzes around a corner looking for a fare.

    Germany in War Time

    Mary Ethel McAuley

Word Origin and History for whizzes

whiz

n.

"clever person," 1914, probably a special use of whiz "something remarkable" (1908), an extended sense of whizz; or perhaps a shortened form of wizard. Noun phrase whiz kid is from 1930s, a take-off on a radio show's quiz kid.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper