sb. [f. WHIRL- + WIND sb., prob. after ON. hvirfilvindr (obs. Da. hverrelwind, Da. hvirvelwind, Sw. virvelvind), whence Du. wervelwind, G. wirbelwind.]
1. A whirling or rotating wind; an atmospheric eddy or vortex; a body of air moving rapidly in a circular or upward spiral course around a vertical or slightly inclined axis which has also a progressive motion over the surface of land or water.
In its larger forms it constitutes a violent and destructive storm, as a cyclone or tornado; over a body of water it sometimes causes a waterspout, over a sandy or dusty region a sand-pillar or dust-whirl.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter Cant. 511. Cumand as whirlwynd to skatire me.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 159. Sodenly a whirlewynd comynge caste doun the dores.
a. 1400. Gloss., in Rel. Ann., I. 6/2. Turbo, the qwyrlewynde.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 321. Þe fend flow away in liknes of a whorle-wynd.
1585. Forman, Argt. (MS. Ashm. 208, lf. 239 b). Elyas was taken up Within a whorrell-winde.
1596. Edward III., III. i. As when a wherle winde takes the Summer dust And scatters it.
1611. Bible, Job xxxviii. 1. Then the Lord answered Iob out of the whirlewind.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Giddinesse, iv. As if a whirlwinde blew And crusht the building.
1706. Prior, Ode to Queen, vii. Swift as the Whirlwind drives Arabia’s scatter’d Sands.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 207. The loud torrent, and the whirlwind’s roar.
1858. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, ii. § 94. All boys are familiar with miniature whirlwinds on shore,… sweeping along the roads…, raising columns of dust, leaves, etc., which … gyrate about the … axis of the storm.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ In Maremma, viii. Herds of buffaloes … rushed, like a whirlwind themselves,… towards the shelter of the thickets.
2. transf. and fig. Something rushing impetuously like a whirlwind; a violent or destructive agency; a confused and tumultuous process or condition.
To sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (Hos. viii. 7): to indulge in reckless wickedness or folly, and suffer the disastrous consequences.
1382. Wyclif, Hosea viii. 7. Thei shuln sowe wynd, and repe whirlwynd.
1590. Tarlton’s Newes Purgatorie, 3. Either a mans soule must in post haste goe presently to God, or else with a whirlwind and a vengeance goe to the diuell.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XV. iv. 35. A tempestuous whirlewind of new calamities.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 77. O’rewhelm’d With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire.
1714. [Blanch], Beaux Merchant, II. 18. What my Landlady, put into her Soup, I can’t tell; but … I had a Whirlwind in my Belly.
1816. Scott, Bl. Dwarf, xviii. It is sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxviii. Mr. Pickwick concluded amidst a whirlwind of applause.
1840. Alison, Hist. Eur., lxii. VIII. 353. The foot soldiers in the rear … were instantly enveloped by a whirlwind of horse.
1855. Kingsley, Glaucus, 3. Free from the cares of town business, and the whirlwind of town pleasure.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. xii. 699. To see whether they who had raised the storm could ride the whirlwind.
1918. Times Lit. Suppl., 21 March, 139/1. The verbal whirlwind of his [sc. Swinburne’s] later utterance.
3. attrib. Of or pertaining to a whirlwind; resembling a whirlwind, violent, impetuous.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, V. 199. Rockes … ouerturn’d with whirle-wind shocks.
1750. Gray, Long Story, 60. Upstairs in a whirlwind rattle.
1828. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 120. With a whirlwind impetuosity he rushes forth.
1865. Parkman, Huguenots, ix. (1875), 157. A whirlwind visitation—to ravage, ruin, and vanish.
4. Comb., as whirlwind-footed, -peopled, -rifted adjs.; whirlwind-like adj. and adv.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., III. iii. 77. *Whirlwind-footed coursers.
1876. Swinburne, Erechtheus, 433. A whirlwind-footed bridegroom.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. Handycrafts, 448. The flying ayre he catches, Born *whirlwinde-like.
1670. Dryden, Tyrannick Love, V. i. Who … Whirlwind-like, around him drove the Air.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. ii. Democracy announcing,… that she is born, and whirlwind-like, will envelope the whole world.
1840. Chamb. Jrnl., 18 April, 104/2. He had heard a whirlwind-like noise above him, with many cries of ‘Horse and Hattock.’
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 204. ‘Mid *whirlwind-peopled mountains. Ibid. (1818), Rosal. & Helen, 1158. *Whirlwind-rifted clouds.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Whirlwind v., intr. to rush impetuously like a whirlwind; Whirlwindish, Whirlwindy adjs., resembling a whirlwind.
1838. R. Sulivan, Raff Hall, II. vii. 97. ‘There, sir,’ said he, pointing to a bundle of arms and legs that were swimming and kicking about on a whirlwindy sky. ‘There, sir, is Elijah going to heaven.’
1842. N. Y. Herald, 13 Feb., 2/2. As the boat came close to the dock, the excitement among the crowd was perfectly whirlwindish.
1892. Black, Wolfenberg, III. v. 131. To see her thus bereft of her usual whirlwindish activity and gay self-assertion.
1895. Holman-Hunt, in Daily News, 14 Aug., 6/2. Paris, where young professors go whirlwinding in what they call study for a time, to their great destruction.
1903. Blackw. Mag., April, 473/1. Its [anger’s] whirlwindy approach.
