[f. WHIRL v. + -ER1.]
I. A person who whirls.
1. One who turns or spins rapidly round; † one who wanders about (obs.); a ‘whirling’ dervish.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 524/2. Whyrlare a-bowte, or goare a-bowte in ydylnesse … girovagus.
1815. Tweddell’s Rem., 229, plate, Dervish of the Order of Whirlers.
1832. Ld. Jeffrey, Lett. to Mrs. Rutherfurd, 1 April. The only chance is for one pair to cling close, like waltzers, and whirl lovingly among the whirlers.
a. 1843. Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., Ser. III. (1850), 391/1. Sect of dancers and whirlers.
1873. Leland, Egypt. Sketch-Bk., 101. He promenaded around the performers, and taking his place in the ring began to spin—for there were during the entire performance one or two whirlers at work.
2. One who whirls something; † one who hurls or flings something, a hurler (obs.); one who turns a wheel or other revolving piece of mechanism.
1563. P. Whitehorne, Onosandro Platon., 74. The whorlers of darts.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 466. For wash-bowls, dishes, or plates, the workman, called the whirler, uses a vertical spindle.
1889. Lipscomb, in Land Agent’s Rec., 6 April, 316. When flails were whirling for six months … in the tithe barns, while the whirlers and their families ate barley bread.
II. A thing that whirls.
† 3. ? A whirlwind. Obs. rare–1.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. Magnificence, 396. What boystrous lungs the roaring whirlers blown: What burning wings the Lightning rides upon.
4. A revolving piece of mechanism.
spec. a. A potter’s whirling-table. b. An apparatus invented by Troughton to serve as an artificial horizon at sea, consisting of a rapidly rotating top with a mirror attached: also called Troughton’s top. c. A device by which the strands are twisted together in spinning; in Rope-making, each of the rotating hooks by which the hemp or other fiber is twisted into yarn.
1860. W. White, Wrekin, xxxi. 377. A revolving pedestal or ‘whirler,’ on which the article to be ornamented is placed.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Whirler, or Troughton’s Top.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech.
1884. Girl’s Own Paper, Nov., 4/3. The females busy with a bunch of camel’s hair and a ‘whirler,’ making … the coarse … thread with which much of their rough sewing is done.
1898. C. F. Binns, Story of Potter, 198. The wheel … at which he [sc. potter] stands is called, when revolved by some other power than himself a ‘jigger’; that which he turns with his own hand when necessary is a ‘whirler.’
1918. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 June, 8/5. Lithographic plate whirler.
