| 释义 |
whirligig, n.|ˈhwɜːlɪgɪg|
Forms: 5 whyrlegyge, (whirlegogge), 5–7 whirlegigg, 6 whirlygigge, whyrlegygge, worlegyg(g, 6–7 whirligigg, 6–8 whirlegig, 7 whirlegigg(e, whirligig(g)e, whirlie-gig, 7–8 whirly(-)gig, (8 whirlagig, 9 whirlgig), 6– whirligig.
[orig. (and still to some extent dial.) two words, f. whirl- and whirly- + gig n.1]
1. a. Name of various toys that are whirled, twirled, or spun round; spec. † (a) a top or teetotum (cf. gig n.1 1); (b) a toy consisting of a small spindle turned by means of a string; (c) a toy with four arms like miniature windmill-sails, which whirl round when it is moved through the air.
c1440Promp. Parv. 525/1 Whyrlegyge, chyldys game, giraculum. 1530Palsgr. 288/2 Whirlygigge to play with, pyrouette. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 191 As a turning Whirli-gig goes round [Fr. Comme la pirouette animee se tourne]. 1659Moxon Tutor Astron. v. 148 The Gnomon must appear on both sides like the stick in a Whirli⁓gig, which children use. 1686R. Blome Gentl. Recr. ii. 148 Pulling the Line you may make the Looking-Glass play in and out as Children do a Whirlegig... Keep it turning that the twinkling of the Glass against the Sun may provoke the Larks to come to view it. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 43 The Pummel [of the sword]..is neither Round nor Oval, but is flat above and below like a Whirligigg. 1728Pope Dunc. iii. 57 As..whirligigs, twirl'd round by skilful swain, Suck the thread in, then yield it out again. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. §6. 288 The peg-top..probably originated from the te-totums and whirligigs. 1811Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 220 They hold each other tight by the middle, and so go round like whirligigs. 1908[Eliz. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 77 A..figure of The Christ-Child playing with a ‘Whirligig’.
b. fig. ‘Plaything’, ‘sport’.
1624Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. i. i. (ed. 2) 356 Thou art Cupids whirlegigge. a1677Barrow Serm. (1683) II. 12 Turning him into..a whirlegig of fate or chance.
2. Applied to various mechanical contrivances having a whirling or rotatory movement; spec. † (a) an instrument of punishment formerly used, consisting of a large cage suspended so as to turn on a pivot; (b) a roundabout or merry-go-round.
In quot. 1601 ? = gig n.1 2; in quot. 1623 ? allusively applied to a carriage; in quot. 1822 to a clock.
1477–8in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 22 Pro vna pecia maeremii de nouo empto pro le Whirlegigg’. Ibid. 23 For a pece of Tymber to the Whirlegogge. 1554in Sir W. Parker Hist. Long Melford (1873) 365 Payde to Newman for mending of Hall Myll Bridge, and makyng of a worlegyg, 22d. 1601Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 230 The silie poore birdes sit prying at, and playing with the whirligig. [Cf. quot. 1686 in 1.] 1617J. Taylor (Water P.) Three Weekes Observ. E 2, It is hanged on a turning Gybbet, like a Crane:..It is bigge enough to hold two men, and..if any one or more doe rob gardens..he or they are put into this same whirligigge, or kickumbob, and the gybbet being turned, the offender hangs in this Cage..some 12 or 14 foot from the water,..and with a tricke..the bottome of the cage drops out, and the thiefe fals sodenly into the water. 1623― World runs on Wheels Wks. (1630) ii. 238/2 The last Proclamations concerning the retiring of the Gentry out of the City into their Countries..how it cleered the Streetes of these way⁓stopping Whirligigges! 1788Grose Milit. Antiq. II. 204 One [punishment] formerly very common, for trifling offences,..was the whirligig;..a kind of circular wooden cage, which turn'd on a pivot; and..whirled round with such an amazing velocity, that the delinquent became extremely sick. 1816E. Weeton Let. 22 May in Jrnl. of Governess (1969) II. 145 Large caravans enter the town with..wooden horses, whirligigs, gambling tables, barrel organs. 1822Scott Nigel v, Yonder hall-clock at Theobald's, and that other whirligig that you made for the Duke of Buckingham. 1839–41Lane Arab. Nts. I. 71 In the outskirts of the cemeteries, swings and whirligigs are erected. 1853Lytton My Novel ii. viii, One of those rotatory entertainments commonly seen in fairs, and known by the name of ‘whirligigs’ or ‘roundabouts’.
3. a. gen. and fig., in various applications: (a) Something that is continually whirling, or in constant movement or activity of any kind; † (b) a fantastic notion, a crotchet (obs.); (c) circling course, revolution (of time or events); (d) a lively or irregular proceeding, an antic; (e) a circling movement, or condition figured as such, a whirl.
1589Pasquil's Ret. B iv b, Euery one that had a whirlegig in his braine, wold haue his own conceit to goe currant. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 237 Quot capita tot sententiæ, so many heades, so many whirlegigs. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 385 And thus the whirlegigge of time brings in his reuenges. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 11 The heathen gods and goddesses, with all their whirligiggs. 1635Shirley Coronation iii. (1640) E 2, Phi. Tis a strange turne. Lisa. The whirligigs of women. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. ii. 73 His braines..being as vertiginous as a whirle-poole, presented ten thousand whirlygigs, Windmils, and Turne-pikes to his errantick soule. 1660Hexham, De Key Lotert hem, he hath a Whirlegigg in his head. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1693) 181 The Whirly-Gig of the Dispensation, which run round from Pope to Pope, and never could be said to settle. 1704Prior Ladle 6 Since They [sc. the gods] gave Things their Beginning; And set this Whirligig a Spinning. 1781Johnson in Boswell 1 Apr., She is the first woman in the world, could she but restrain that wicked tongue of hers;..could she but command that little whirligig. 1796F. Burney Camilla vii. xiii, You'll put my poor head quite into a whirligig. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. xvi. ⁋2 This ridiculous baboon..got back again to his old tricks and whirligigs. 1862Huxley in Life (1900) I. xv. 198, I was..glad to get your letter at that whirligig of an association meeting. 1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. ix. 186 The whirligig of events restored Francesco Sforza to his duchy. 1897Mrs. Rayner Type-writer Girl xviii, Water⁓beetles who dart and dance..in interlacing whirligigs. 1911Marett Anthropol. vii. 186 When the whirligig of social change brings the uneducated temporarily to the fore.
b. A fickle, inconstant, giddy, or flighty person (cf. gig n.1 4); also, one who turns round or moves about actively, as in a dance.
1602Dekker Satirom. L 3, No whirligig, one of his faithfull fighters. 1605Chapman All Fooles i. i. 281 To maintaine a wanton whirly-gig, Worth nothing more then she brings on her back. a1704T. Brown tr. æneas Sylvius Lett. lxxxii. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 81 Woman is the Whirly-Gig of Nature; she changes so often and swiftly. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 67 ⁋9 An impudent young Dog..ran to his Partner [in a dance],..and whisked her round..; just as my Girl was going to be made a Whirligig, I ran in, seized on the Child, and carried her home. 1796F. Burney Camilla ii. iii, Knowing you to be such a merry little whirligig. 1822T. Mitchell Com. Aristoph. II. 317 Give way, and make room for their play,..We'll sit here..and mark how these whirligigs whisk it!
4. A water-beetle of the family Gyrinidæ, esp. the common species Gyrinus natator, found in large numbers circling rapidly over the surface of the water in ponds and ditches. Also whirligig beetle.
1713Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. iv, Trochus Pyramidalis Indicus..Indian Whirligig. 1855Poultry Chron. III. 378 The Gyrinidæ, or whirligig beetles. 1874Wood Insects Abr. 69 The Gyrinidæ, or Whirligig Beetles, of foreign countries.. being scarcely larger than our familiar British species. 1877F. P. Pascoe Zool. Classif. 110 Gyrinus (Whirlgig).
5. advb. Like a whirligig; with rapid circling movement.
1598E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 51 His head..Wherein ten thousand thoughts runne whirligigge. 1828Scott Jrnl. 16 June, To dress my sails to every wind;..and spin round, whirligig.
6. attrib. Resembling a whirligig; characterized by a whirling movement (lit. and fig.). See also 4.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 120 With whirlygig eyesight Vp to the sky staring. 1614Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xiii. (ed. 2) 307 Continuing their whirlegigg-deuotions with continuall turnings (fitly agreeing to so giddie and brainsicke a Religion). 1688Holme Armoury iv. xiii. (Roxb.) 521/2 The memory of the heathen gods and Godesses, with all their whirligigg fancies. 1807W. Irving Salmag. No. 13 (1811) II. 74 That intoxicating, inflammatory, and whirligig dance, the waltz. 1816Scott Antiq. xiii, The changes of this trumpery whirligig world. 1840Hood Kilmansegg, Fancy Ball xxx, She finished off with a whirligig bout. 1879Punch 31 May 256 The whirligig whims of the moment.
Hence ˈwhirligig v., intr. (also with it), to turn like a whirligig, to whirl or spin round (whence whirligigging ppl. a.).
1598E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 35 This mad-cap world, this whirlygigging age. 1687A. Lovell Bergerac's Com. Hist. 57 These..have been constrained to whirlegig it. 1840Hood Up Rhine 188 Half a score of bouncing girls, ballad singing, and whirligigging. 1872‘Aliph Cheem’ (Yeldham) Lays of Ind (1876) 6 The dancers..postured, bobbed, whirligigged, wriggled. |