wisp

American  

[wisp] / wɪsp /

noun

1. a handful or small bundle of straw, hay, or the like.

2. any thin tuft, lock, mass, etc..

   wisps of hair.

3. a thin puff or streak, as of smoke; slender trace.

4. a person or thing that is small, delicate, or barely discernible.

   a mere wisp of a lad; a wisp of a frown.

5. a whisk broom.

6. Chiefly British Dialect.

   1. a pad or twist of straw, as used to rub down a horse.

   2. a twisted bit of straw used as a torch.

7. a will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus.

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verb (used with object)

1. to twist into a wisp.

wisp ¹ British  

/ wɪsp /

noun

1. a thin, light, delicate, or fibrous piece or strand, such as a streak of smoke or a lock of hair

2. a small bundle, as of hay or straw

3. anything slender and delicate

   a wisp of a girl

4. a mere suggestion or hint

5. a flock of birds, esp snipe

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verb

1. to move or act like a wisp

2. dialect (tr) to twist into a wisp

3. (tr) to groom (a horse) with a wisp of straw, etc

WISP ² British  

/ wɪsp /

acronym

1. Wireless Information Service Provider: an internet service provider set up to deal with and deliver internet services to clients through wireless access points

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Other Word Forms

• wisplike adjective

Etymology

Origin of wisp

1300–50; Middle English wisp, wips; akin to wipe

Example Sentences

Ben, with his salt-and-pepper brown hair and blue eyes, me with my green ones, freckles, and wavy brown hair, and Meadowlark with her pale, almost bluish white skin and stick-straight blond wisps.

From Literature

It’s the mixed blessing of still being close to where you’re from, yet sung with a wisp of yearning.

From Los Angeles Times

She pointed down the mountain trail, where a thin gray wisp of smoke rose from the trees in the valley.

From Literature

The air is just smoke and steam and wisps of half-burned leaves.

From Literature

She ran into the dress shop with wisps of straw stuck to her legs and only minutes to choose, for the wagon could not wait long.

From Literature

Related Words

• tuft