whirligig

plural whirligigs · alternative whirlgig · alternative whirlygig

1. Anything that whirls or spins around, such as a toy top or a merry-go-round.
2. A device incorporating spinning, wind-driven propellers or pinwheels, used as whimsical outdoor decoration in a garden or on a porch.
3. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of whirligig beetle.
4. historicalA device for punishing prisoners, comprising a wooden cage that rapidly spins around to induce nausea.

present singular third person whirligigs · participle present whirligigging · participle past whirligigged · past whirligigged · alternative whirlgig · alternative whirlygig

1. To spin or twirl about quickly.

   “[A]n’ whin the anlooky brat had thim all in this way whirligiggin’ about the flure, he’d grin an’ he’d chuckle an’ he'd chather, jist fur all the world like Jocko, the monkey, whin he’s played off sum uv his roguery.”

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 524