whim

plural whims

1. countableuncountableA fanciful impulse, or sudden change of idea.

   Let ev’ry Man enjoy his whim; / What’s He to Me, or I to him?

   1763, Charles Churchill, The Ghost, book IV, J. Coote, →OCLC, page 137

   5 more examples

   “No, it is not for a wager; it is a whim of mine, which I fancy from the tone of your conversation you could understand, being apparently somewhat whimsical yourself.” “So far as whim goes, be assured of my sympathy.”

   1873, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

   The king was tired of this whim of hers long ago, and thought she ought to get married like other people; there was nothing she need wait for, she was old enough and she would not be any richer either, for she was to have half the kingdom, which she inherited after her mother.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H. L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 269

   […]the unholy stone whereon Tess had been compelled by Alec d’Urberville, in his whim of reformation, to swear the strange oath that she would never wilfully tempt him again.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC

   […]“I am sorry to make you the victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply can’t leave that case in this condition.

   1904 September, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC

   “You’re either with me or you’re against me” became Dany’s credo, and those against her were an ever-changing multitude to be determined solely by her whims.

   2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 22 May 2019

   Synonyms: lark

2. countableuncountablebusinessA large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes.

present singular third person whims · participle present whimming · participle past whimmed · past whimmed

1. intransitiverareTo be seized with a whim; to be capricious.

plural whims

1. A bird, the Eurasian wigeon.

1. abbreviationinitialismuncountableastronomyInitialism of warm-hot intergalactic medium.