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† ˈwhirlbat, ˈwhorlbat Obs.
Forms: α. 6–7 whorle-, 7 whoorl-, 7–8 whorlbat. β. 7–8 whirl(e)bat.
[Alteration of hurlbat by substitution of whirl for the first syllable.]
1. Used in the 16th and 17th c. to render L. cæstus, which was defined as ‘a weapon with plummettes of leade, vsed in games for exercise’ (Cooper's Thesaurus) and ‘a certain game..among the ancients, wherein they whirled leaden plummets at one another’ (Phillips, 1658); also in renderings of Gr. πύξ.
α1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Cæstus, Bellare cæstu, to play as it were at the whorle bat. 1574Withals' Dict. 51/2 Cæstus, an whorle batte, an instrument of leather couered with leade, to buffet one another. 1601Holland Pliny xi. xxxvii. I. 331 All the sort of Rams he armed with crooked hornes,..as if they were gantlets or whorlebats [cæstus], given them by Nature to thumpe and jurre withall. c1611Chapman Iliad xxiii. 538 Your shoulders must not vndergo the churlish whoorlbats fall [οὐ γὰρ πύξ γε µαχήσεαι]. 1614Raleigh Hist. World ii. xiii. §6 He..compelled all strangers to fight with him, at whorlebattes. 1656Cowley Pindar. Odes, Praise of Pindar Note 3, The Cestus, or Whorle-bats. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 30 The Whorlbat, and the rapid Race, shall be Reserv'd for Cæsar.
β1615Chapman Odyss. viii. 285 At wrestling, buffets, whirlbat, speed of race [ἢ πὺξ ζὲ πάλη ἢ καὶ ποσίν]. Ibid. xi. 406 Pollux, that exceld, in whirlbat fight [πὺξ ἀγαθὸν Πολυδεύκεα]. 1617Minsheu Ductor 371 A Plummet, or whirle-bat, that vaulters, leapers, and dauncers vse. 1650Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl., Foundation C. §3 Slain by thee with the whirlbat [a te cestu cæsum]. 1685Cotton tr. Montaigne i. xxii. (1711) I. 130 Fencers, inur'd to beating, when bang'd almost to Pulp with Clubs and Whirl-bats [tr. Cicero pugiles cæstibus contusi]. 1700Dryden Fables Pref. *D 2, He rejected them as Dares did the Whirl-bats of Eryx.
2. A club.
1791Cowper Iliad vii. 167 Where him his iron whirl⁓bat [κορύνη] nought avail'd. |