| 1. | to turn around, spin, or rotate rapidly: The merry-go-round whirled noisily. |
| 2. | to turn about or aside quickly: He whirled and faced his pursuers. |
| 3. | to move, travel, or be carried rapidly along: She whirled along the freeway in her new car. |
| 4. | to feel as though spinning rapidly; reel as from dizziness: My head began to whirl. |
| 5. | to cause to turn around, spin, or rotate rapidly. |
| 6. | to send, drive, or carry in a circular or curving course. |
| 7. | to drive, send, or carry along with great or dizzying rapidity. |
| 8. | Obsolete. to hurl. |
| 9. | the act of whirling; rapid rotation or gyration. |
| 10. | a whirling movement; quick turn or swing. |
| 11. | a short drive, run, walk, or the like; spin. |
| 12. | something that whirls; a whirling current or mass. |
| 13. | a rapid round of events, affairs, etc.: a whirl of meetings, conferences, and business lunches. |
| 14. | a state marked by dizziness or a dizzying succession of feelings, thoughts, etc. |
| 15. | an attempt or trial, esp. one undertaken tentatively or experimentally: Even if you don't agree with my plan, won't you give it a whirl? |
| 16. | Machinery. whip (def. 26). |

whirl (hwûrl, wûrl) v. whirled, whirl·ing, whirls v. intr.
[Middle English whirlen, probably from Old Norse hvirfla.] whirl'er n. |