whirlwind

English

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whirlwind

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English whirlewind, whirlewynde, equivalent to whirl +‎ wind. Compare Middle Dutch wervelwint, Old Norse hvirfilvindr.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːlwɪnd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)wɝlwɪnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

whirlwind (plural whirlwinds)

1. A windstorm of limited extent—such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout—characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion.
   • 1668, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Fifth Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], published 1713, →OCLC, paragraph XXXVIII, page 515:

     VVhile in the mean time there iſſued out on the Eaſt-ſide a ſtrong VVind, but pure and refreſhing, vvhich dividing into ſeveral parts that turned round became ſo many innocuous VVhirl-vvinds of ſincere Air, tinctured only vvith a cool refreſhing ſmell, as if it had paſſed over ſome large field of Lilies and Roſes.

   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, / His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, / And turbulence, as if a whirlwind’s gust / Surrounded us; […]

2. (figuratively) A person or body of objects or events sweeping violently onward.

   Once he got that new scooter he turned into a whirlwind and damaged all the flowers.

   The weeks leading up to the convention were a whirlwind of preparation and hurried activity.

Hyponyms

• dust devil
• fire whirl
• landspout
• tornado
• waterspout

Derived terms

• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind

Translations

violent windstorm of limited extent characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air

Albanian: shakullinë (sq) f Arabic: زَوْبَعَة f (zawbaʕa) Armenian: մրրիկ (hy) (mrrik) Azerbaijani: qasırğa, burağan, burulğan (az) Bashkir: ҡойон (qoyon) Belarusian: ві́хур m (víxur), ві́хура f (víxura) Breton: avel-dro (br) f Bulgarian: ви́хър (bg) m (víhǎr), вихрушка (bg) f (vihruška) Burmese: လေကတော့ (my) (leka.tau.), လေပွေ (my) (le-pwe), ရေကတော့ (my) (reka.tau.) Catalan: terbolí (ca) m Chinese: Dungan: щүанфыр (xüanfɨr) Mandarin: 旋風／旋风 (zh) (xuànfēng), 飆／飙 (zh) (biāo) Chukchi: янрайгын (janrajgyn) Czech: smršť (cs) f Danish: hvirvelvind c Dutch: windhoos (nl) m or f, wervelwind (nl) m Esperanto: ciklono Estonian: tuulispask Finnish: pyörremyrsky (fi), pyörretuuli French: cyclone (fr) m Galician: remuíño (gl) m, voraxen f, refolión m, refolada (gl) f Georgian: გრიგალი (grigali), ქარიშხალი (karišxali) German: Wirbelwind m, Wirbelsturm (de) m Greek: ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos) Ancient: λαῖλαψ f (laîlaps) Greenlandic: anoraarsuaq Hindi: बवंडर (hi) m (bavaṇḍar), चक्रवात (hi) m (cakravāt) Hungarian: forgószél (hu) Ido: aerovortico Ingrian: viihkura Irish: cuaifeach m Italian: turbine (it) m Japanese: 旋風 (ja) (つむじかぜ, tsumujikaze) Kazakh: құйын (qūiyn) Khmer: កំបុតត្បូង (km) (kɑmbot tboung) Korean: 선풍 (ko) (seonpung) Kyrgyz: куюн (kuyun) Lao: ຫົວກຸດ (hūa kut), ຈັກກະວາດ (chak ka wāt) Latin: turbō (la) m, vertex m Latvian: viesulis m Lithuanian: viesulas m Macedonian: ви́ор m (víor) Maori: tūkauati, āwhiowhio, ānewa o te rangi, urupuhau Mongolian: хуй (mn) (xuj) Navajo: náátsʼóʼoołdísii Norwegian: Bokmål: virvelvind m Nynorsk: virvelvind m, kvervelvind Old English: þoden m Oromo: bubbee Ottoman Turkish: بوراغان (burağan), طولومبه (tulumba) Persian: گردباد (fa) (gerdbâd) Plautdietsch: Wirbelstorm m Polish: trąba powietrzna (pl) Portuguese: turbilhão (pt) m Punjabi: ਵਾਵਰੋਲਾ (vāvrolā) Russian: вихрь (ru) m (vixrʹ), смерч (ru) m (smerč) (tornado) Scottish Gaelic: ioma-ghaoth f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ви̏хор m Roman: vȉhor (sh) m Slovak: víchrica (sk) f Slovene: vihar (sl) m Spanish: torbellino (es) m Swedish: virvelvind (sv) c Tagalog: buhawi, ipu-ipo Tajik: гирдбод (tg) (girdbod) Tatar: коен (qoyen) Telugu: సుడిగాలి (te) (suḍigāli) Thai: ลมวน (lom-won), พายุหมุน (paa-yú-mǔn), บ้าหมู (bâa-mǔu) Turkish: burağan (tr), kasırga (tr) Ukrainian: ви́хор m (výxor) Uyghur: قۇيۇن (quyun) Uzbek: uyurma (uz), quyun (uz) Vietnamese: gió lốc (vi), lốc (vi) Welsh: troellwynt m, awel dro f, corwynt m, trowynt m

body of objects or events sweeping violently onward

Chinese: Mandarin: 一片忙亂／一片忙乱 (yī piàn mángluàn) Finnish: pyörremyrsky (fi) German: Wirbelwind m Greek: λαίλαπα (el) f (laílapa), ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos) Norwegian: Bokmål: virvelvind m Nynorsk: virvelvind m, kvervelvind Russian: урага́н (ru) m (uragán) Spanish: tromba (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) vȉhor (sh)

Adjective

whirlwind (not comparable)

1. Rapid and minimal.

   a whirlwind tour, a whirlwind romance

   • 2016, Nina Milne, Rafael's Contract Bride, page 60:

     So you aren't deserting the Caversham ship. They'll understand. After all, their courtship was pretty whirlwind itself.

See also

• whistle-stop