whiffetn.
/ˈhwɪfɪt/ U.S.
1. (Also whiffet dog.) A small dog.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > large or small
messana1500
messet1631
towser1678
doggy1692
whiffet dog1801
dogling1830
ankle-biter1962
1801 Olio (Philadelphia) 41 Who heeds the Whiffit's bark, when tempests howl?
1848 Ladies' Repository VIII. 315 The best protection to a house, with a family in it that can be named—that is, a little, barking, noisy, cowardly, whiffet dog.
1879 J. Burroughs Locusts & Wild Honey 30 The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog will worry a bear.
2. transferred. An insignificant person; a whippersnapper. colloquial. (Cf. whifling n.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > one who is unimportant > of little importance
nekardc1450
man of clouts, king of clouts1467
dandiprat1556
Tom Thumb1579
minim1590
pygmy?1592
titmouse1596
gnatling1614
rye straw1615
nazzard1619
whisk1629
whifling1640
snifty1660
whippersnapper1674
nick-ninny1699
little me1711
squita1825
lightweight1831
lay figure1835
whiffet1839
pinkeen1850
huckleberry1868
bush leaguer1906
knibloch1915
the mind > emotion > pride > impudence > [noun] > impudent person > young man
princock1540
puppy?1544
skipjack1554
pup1590
whelp1611
whisk1629
whippersnapper1674
whiffet1839
Jack the Lad1968
Essex man1990
1839 Congress. Globe Jan. App. 105/3 There was not a Whig whiffet in the country but could ask [etc.].
1883 W. Whitman Specimen Days in Specimen Days & Collect 157 This gusty-temper'd little whiffet, man.
1883 L. A. Lambert Notes on Ingersoll xxii. 200 We hold ourselves responsible to him, and to all the glib little whiffets of his shallow school.
3. A small quantity of mist or cloud; a puff or wisp of smoke or vapour.
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1910 J. Hart Vigilante Girl i. 14 At last, of the heavy fog-bank there remained but whiffets and rings and wreaths of mist.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1801