Obs. Of doubtful origin and meaning; perh. a slang term denoting ‘thingumbob,’ ‘what-d’ye-call-it’; but cf. WHIBBLE and QUIBLIN.
With quot. 1604. Cf. WHIFLING, WHIMLING.
1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., I. I. ii. Hees a very mandrake, or else … one a these whiblins, and thats worse, and then all the children that he gets lawfully of your body sister, are bastards by a statute.
1613. Marston, Insat. C’tess, II. D j b. A rare whiblin, To be reueng’d, and yet gaine pleasure in’t.
1623. J. Taylor (Water P.), World runs on Wheels, Wks. (1630), II. 234/1. Proiects … of planting the Ile of Dogs with Whiblins, Corwhichets, Mushromes and Tobacco.
a. 1652. Brome, Lovesick Court, V. i. Come, Sir, let go your whiblin. (Dis. snatcheth his sword away.)
