King James Bible Dictionary

WHIRL, verb transitive hwurl. [G., to whirl to warble. Latin ] TO turn round rapidly; to turn with velocity.

He whirls his sword around without delay.

WHIRL, verb intransitive

1. To be turned round rapidly; to move round with velocity; as the whirling spindles of a cotton machine or wheels of a coach.

The wooden engine flies and whirls about.

2. To move hastily.

--But whirld away, to shun his hateful sight.

WHIRL, noun [G.]

1. A turning with rapidity or velocity; rapid rotation or circumvolution; quick gyration; as the whirl of a top; the whirl of a wheel; the whirl of time; the whirls of fancy.

2. Any thing that moves or is turned with velocity, particularly on an axis or pivot.

3. A hook used in twisting.

4. In botany, a species of inflorescence, consisting of many subsessile flowers surrounding the stem in a ring. It is also written whorl and wherl.

WHIRL-BAT, noun [whirl and bat.] Any thing moved with a whirl as preparatory for a blow, or to augment the force of it. Poets use it for the ancient cestus.

The whirl-bat and the rapid race shall be reservd for Cesar.

WHIRL-BLAST, noun [whirl and blast.] A whirling blast of wind.

WHIRL-BONE, noun [whirl and bone.] The patella; the cap of the knee; the knee-pan.

WHIRLED, participle passive

1. Turned round with velocity.

2. In botany, growing in whirls; bearing whirls; verticillate.

WHIRLIGIG, noun [whirl and gig.]

1. A toy which children spin or whirl round.

2. In military antiquities, an instrument for punishing petty offenders, as sutlers, brawling women, etc.; a kind of wooden cage turning on a pivot, in which the offender was whirled round with great velocity.

WHIRLING, participle present tense Turning or moving round with velocity.

WHIRLING-TABLE, noun A machine contrived to exhibit and demonstrate the principal laws of gravitation , and of the planetary motion in curvilinear orbits.

WHIRL-PIT, noun A whirlpool. [Not used.]

WHIRLPOOL, noun [whirl and pool.] An eddy of water; a vortex or gulf where the water moves round in a circle. In some cases, a whirlpool draws things to its center and absorbs them, as is the case with the Maelstrom off the coast of Norway.

Destructive
Proverbs 1:27

From the south:

In the land of Uz
Job 37:9

In the valley of the Euphrates
Isaiah 21:1

In the land of Canaan
Zech 9:14

From the north
Ezekiel 1:4

Elijah translated in
2 Kings 2:1; 2 Kings 2:11

God answered Job in
Job 38:1
Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena

Figurative:

Of the judgment of God
Jeremiah 23:19; Jeremiah 30:23

Of the fruits of unrighteousness
Hosea 8:7

Of divine judgments
Ezekiel 1:4

WHIRLWIND, noun [whirl and wind.] A violent wind moving in a circle, or rather in a spiral form, as if moving round an axis; this axis or the perpendicular column moving horizontally, raising and whirling dust, leaves and the like.