sb. (a.) Forms: 7 whim-, whymzie, whimsee, 7–8 whimzy, 8 whymsey, 7–9 whimsie, whims(e)y. [See WHIM-WHAM.]
I. † 1. Dizziness, giddiness, vertigo. Obs.
16[?]. Middleton, etc. Old Law, III. ii. I ha’ got the scotomy in my head already, The whimsey: you all turn round.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Scotomatical, that is troubled with such a whimsey in the head.
† 2. A wench. Obs. rare.
1614. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, II. iv. And shall we ha’ smockes Vrsla, and good whimsies, ha?
a. 1625. Fletcher, Bloody Brother, IV. ii. You ’l pick a bottle open, or a whimsey, As soon as the best of us.
3. = WHIM sb.1 3.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, III. i. I can feele A whimsey i’ my bloud: (I know not how) Successe hath made me wanton.
1628. Venner, Baths of Bathe (1650), 365. Such as have their pates full of outlandish whimsies.
1646. J. Hall, Horæ Vac., 31. That whimsey of Pythagoras of the transmigration of Soules.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., I. i. 7, note. Our Inability to live in too rare and light an Air may discourage those vain Attempts of Flying, and Whimsies of passing to the Moon.
1803. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), III. 508. Plato, who only used the name of Socrates to cover the whimsies of his own brain.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 164. Both had what seemed extravagant whimsies about dress, diversions, and postures.
1891. Besant, St. Katherine’s, I. vi. Why, I was young once, and had my own whimsies like the rest.
b. = WHIM sb.1 3 b. arch.
a. 1680. Glanvill, Sadducismus, II. (1681), 50. All this is Whimsey and Fiction.
1709. Shaftesb., Charac. (1711), II. 337. In One there are the Marks of Wisdom and Determination; in the other, of Whimsy and Conceit.
1775. Wraxall, Tour North. Europe, 121. It may just as well be called an European structure, where whimsy and caprice form the predominant character.
1881. Blackmore, Christowell, xlviii. They winnow my gatherings on every wind of whimsy.
4. = WHIM sb.1 2 a.
1712. H. More’s Antid. Ath., III. ix. § 2. Schol. 169. Engrav’d with Characters, and other Magical whimsies of this sort.
1785. J. Collier, Mus. Trav. (ed. 4), 62. The Italian whimsies and tweedle-dums, that people played upon in these days.
1791. Cowper, Yardley Oak, 118. Thy root … A quarry of stout spurs, and knotted fangs,… crook’d into a thousand whimsies.
1860–1. D. Coleridge, in Phil. Soc. Trans., 164. The proposed Dictionary … must include many a mere whimsey and many a gross corruption.
1906. E. V. Lucas, Wanderer in Lond., i. 13–4. The lodge in the garden of the Record Office. This little architectural whimsy might be the abode of an urban fairy or gnome.
II. † 5. A merry-go-round, roundabout. Obs.
1684. Ballads illustr. Gt. Frost (Percy Soc.), 4. There were Dutch whimsies turned swiftly round Faster then horses run on level ground.
6. = WHIM sb.1 4. local.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 430. This may be done … with a small horse-gin or whimsy, instead of a windlass, for drawing the water and work in sinking.
1836. Hull & Selby Railw. Act, 44. To make use of any gins, whimsies, tackling, ropes, machines.
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts, III. 319. In Cornwall, a kibble, in which the ore is raised in the shafts, by machines called whims or whimseys.
b. (See quot.)
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Whimsey, a small crane for hoisting goods to the upper stories of warehouses.
7. Glass-making. (See quot.)
1856. H. Chance, in Jrnl. Soc. Arts, IV. 224/2. Still whirling, the table [of crown glass], as it is now called, is carried off, laid flat upon a support called a whimsey, detached by shears from the ponty, [etc.].
B. adj. Whimsical.
1632. Shirley, Hyde Park, II. ii. Ieere on, my whimsy Lady.
1867. Lanier, Strange Jokes, 7, Poems (1892), 217. Once in a whimsey mood he sat.
1913. Mrs. Stratton-Porter, Laddie, xiv. (1916), 284. Laddie studied the sky, a whimsy smile on his lips.
C. attrib. and Comb., as whimsy-pate, -shaft; whimsy-headed adj.; † whimsy-board, ? a board or table used in some game of chance, or on which different objects were carried about for sale.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Lett. Living to Dead, Wks. 1720, II. 19. I am sometimes a small Retainer to a Billiard-Table, and sometimes, when the Master on’t is sick, earn a Penny by a *Whimsy-Board.
1708. W. King, Art of Cookery (1709), 99. Then Pippins did in Wheel-barrows abound, And Oranges in Whimsey-boards went round.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4659/3. He frequents the Cock Pits and Gaming Houses, Whimsy Boards.
1698. E. Ward, Lond. Spy, III. (1706), 63. The first *Whimsie-headed Wretch of this Lunatick Family.
1682. Winyard, Mercurius Menip., 6. His *Whimsie-Meagrim must be an Ecstasie.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. iv. 88. What a company … doth this phantasticall *whimzy-pate gather.
1821. W. Forster, Section of Strata (ed. 2), 331. *Whimsey Shafts may be sunk to the depth of ten or fifteen fathoms.
Hence Whimsily adv., Whimsiness.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, IV. iii. 188. I love Toboso, and I know not why, Only I say, I love her (whimsyly).
1909. Daily Chron., 14 Sept., 5/3. To … indulge his political whimsiness.
