Also 8 whym. [See WHIM-WHAM. The transference of meaning from branch I to branch II is similar to that in ENGINE and GIN sb.1]
I. † 1. A pun or play on words; a double meaning. Obs.
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, I. (1652), B 1 b. There was the whim, or double meaning on’t. Ibid. One told a Gentleman His son should be a man-killer, and hang’d for’t; Who, after prov’d a great and rich Physician, And with great Fame ith’ Universitie Hang’d up in Picture for a grave example. There was the whim of that. Quite contrary! Ibid., B 2 b. Shall Squire Oldrent’s Daughters Weare old rents in their Garments? (there’s a whim too).
2. † a. A fanciful or fantastic creation; a whimsical object. Obs.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. I. 108. When he … Had rifled all his Pokes and Fobs Or Gimcracks, Whims and Jiggumbobs.
1712–3. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 16 Jan. I came home at seven, and began a little whim, which just came into my head; and will make a threepenny pamphlet.
1731. Cheny, List Horse-Matches, 89. This Prize is call’d a Whim or whimsical Plate, because the Conditions of running for the same, are different from those of all other Prizes.
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 275. Were the testimony of history less positive … such a Government [as that of Sparta] would appear a mere philosophical whim or fiction.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 111. Some may praise the grass-plat whims, Which the gard’ner weekly trims.
† b. A whimsical fellow. Obs.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 371, ¶ 2. That sort of Men who are called Whims and Humourists.
c. In ombre, the deciding on the trump suit by turning up the top card of the stock.
1874. H. H. Gibbs, Ombre, 41, note. Voltereta, though known in England (under the name of the Whim), was not appreciated there.
3. A capricious notion or fancy; a fantastic or freakish idea; an odd fancy.
1697. Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, II. ii. Walking pretty late in the Park … A Whim took me to sing Chevy-Chace.
1702. Savery, Miner’s Friend, 80. Many such like Whims [as perpetual motion] are pretended to by Designing Men.
1713. Hearne, Collect. (O. H. S.), IV. 254. The New-Printing House just erected, wch is (it seems, out of a Whim) to be called Typographeum Clarendonianum.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 89. See the sage hermit,… Wearing out life in his religious whim, Till his religious whimsy wears out him.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ella of Gar., viii. This scheme was no whim of the moment.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xlii. Mrs. Dombey may be in earnest, or she may be pursuing a whim, or she may be opposing me.
1899. Conan Doyle, Duet, Confessions, 130. There are all sorts and degrees of love, some just the whim of a moment, and others the passion of a lifetime, [etc.].
b. In generalized sense: Capricious humour or disposition of mind.
a. 1721. Prior, Enigma, ‘Form’d half beneath, etc.,’ 7. They [sc. skates] serve the poor for use, the rich for whim.
1728. Pope, Dunc., III. 153. Sneering Goode, half malice and half whim.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, XII. i. (Rtldg.), 423. I came up to pay my devotions; but whim, or perhaps revenge … determined her to put on the stranger.
1884. Stevenson, Mem. & Portraits, xvi. (1887), 275. Mr. Besant so genial,… with so persuasive and humorous a vein of whim.
c. Comb.
1647. Ward, Simple Cobler, 25. These whimm’ Crown’d shees, these fashion-fansying wits.
1786. Burns, Bard’s Epit., i. Is there a whim-inspir’d fool, Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,… Let him draw near.
II. 4. A machine, used esp. for raising ore or water from a mine, consisting of a vertical shaft carrying a large drum with one or more radiating arms or beams to which a horse or horses, etc., may be yoked and by which it may be turned, the rope being wound on the drum by the horse’s motion. Also horse-whim.
1738. MSS. Dk. Portland (Hist. MSS. Comm.), VI. 177. This Lord has destroyed the old ridiculous water works and whims that were then when made much in vogue.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist., I. Cornwall, 11. A Wheel and Axle, (which they call a Whim).
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 143. A proper working Shaft, upon which a Whym may be erected.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxxvi. They above … were rigging a rope to an old horse-whim.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, xliv. The whole plant, the whim, the tools,…—every mortal thing down to a worn-out hide bucket—was sold.
b. attrib. and Comb., as whim-driver, -engine, -gin, -horse, -house, -kibble, -rope, -round, -shaft.
1757. Borlase, in Phil. Trans., L. 504. The whim-house shook so terribly, that a man there at work ran out of it, concluding it to be falling.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 144. A whym Shaft to draw the Deads and Ore from the Sump of the Mine. Ibid., 150. Two horses … go round upon a platform named the Whym-round. Ibid., 165. In deep Mines, some whym ropes cost fifty or sixty pounds. Ibid., Gloss. s.v. Kibbal, A Whym-Kibbal is a larger [bucket], which … serves to draw water with, or bring up the Ore to grass.
1789. Brand, Hist. Newc., II. 684. In a whim gin the ropes run upon two wheel pullies over the shaft.
1834. 2nd Rep. Cornwall Polytechn. Soc., 41. The Steam Whim Engine.
1855. J. R. Leifchild, Cornwall, 139. Shafts … intended for the extraction of ores (called whim-shafts where horse-whims are employed for extracting the produce).
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 84. Whim Driver.
1896. J. Hocking, Fields of Fair Renown, i. The boy who drove the ‘whim horse’ cracked his whip.
¶ In sense 4 a variant whin is found.
1838. Simms, Publ. Wks. Gt. Brit., II. 3. Cutting the whin ropes nearly through.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Whin (Mining), a machine for raising ores and refuse.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 9 June, 5/3. Rolling a large oak tree with a timber whin.
Hence Whimmed a., ? possessed with a whim or odd fancy; Whimmery, a piece of whimsicality; Whimship, mock title for a whimsical person.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, I. viii. 29. Our Don (or if Sancho had the braines, for the Squires were *whim’d in the whiske) might very well from that encounter have stil’d himself a Knight of Millan.
1837. Fraser’s Mag., XV. 333/1. Had not Mr. Pugin’s attention been too exclusively engrossed by that architectural *whimmery.
1906. T. Sinton, Poetry of Badenoch, 161. We can imagine the swing of his bow, with many a panse and twirl, carrying through the whimeries of the rhyme.
1793. Ann. Reg., Projects, 337. You’re sure to find his *Whimship there.
