[f. WHIRR v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb WHIRR; a continuous vibratory sound, or movement with such a sound.

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1581.  A. Hall, Iliad, II. 30. This speech … doth greatly ioy the Greekes, They such a noyse and whirring made.

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1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. Furies, 115. The first mov’d heav’n (in’t self it self stil stirring) Rapts with his course (quicker then windes swift whirring) All th’ other Sphears.

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1811.  Shelley, St. Irvyne, ix. Pr. Wks. 1888, I. 190. Save by the whirrings of the bats, the stillness … was uninterrupted.

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1840.  Thackeray, George Cruikshank (1869), 305. What a pious whirring of bible leaves one hears all over the church.

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1863.  Bates, Nat. Amazons, I. i. 9. The whirring of cicadas.

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1918.  H. Bindloss, Agatha’s Fortune, ii. An electric fan made an unpleasant whirring as it churned the humid air.

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