Also 7, 9 whisp. [f. WISP sb.1]
1. trans. To rub (an animal, esp. a horse) down or over with a wisp.
a. 1598. D. Fergusson, Scot. Prov. (S.T.S.), 6. A fair bryde is soon buskt, and a short horse soone wispt.
1834. New Monthly Mag., XLII. 436. Wisp her and curry her, feed her and train her!… and what is she after all but a mule!
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 217. The whole body should then be wisped down with straw. Ibid. Of wisping and brushing, wisping is the more beneficial to the legs, where the hair is short.
1844. Queen’s Regul. & Ord. Army, 351. They are to remain saddled…, time being allowed for wisping them over.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, II. I. xi. § 1. 361/1. Beginning with the head, which should be first brushed over, then well whisped with a handful of hay.
† 2. To put a twisted band of hay upon (the legs of a horse). Also with up. Obs.
1607. Markham, Cavel., IV. ix. 48. Hauing thus wispt al his foure legs,… you shall then mount vpon him [etc.].
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horsem., 32. Whisp him up round with small whisps.
3. To twist into or as a wisp: dial. to rumple.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, v. 28. The very same head of hair, wisp’d, and matted together, would make the most disagreeable figure.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, 487. Wisp is used with us, in the farther sense of rudely handling any delicate thing—‘Dont wisp it.’
1870. ‘Ouida,’ Puck, vi. ‘Ye’r wispin’ tha ribbon, ma dear,’ said Dick.
1880. Daily Tel., 2 March, 5/2. A cloth, degenerating into a rag, is wisped round his head.
4. intr. To pass away, as a wisp of vapor.
1833. Meredith, Poems Joy of Earth, 12. Whish! the phantom wisps away.
1898. G. W. Steevens, With Kitchener to Khartum, 278. Magically the rifles hushed, the stinging powder smoke wisped away.
