[hwurl-wind, wurl-] 
| 1. | any of several relatively small masses of air rotating rapidly around a more or less vertical axis and advancing simultaneously over land or sea, as a dust devil, tornado, or waterspout. |
| 2. | anything resembling a whirlwind, as in violent action or destructive force. |
| 3. | any circling rush or violent onward course. |
| 4. | like a whirlwind, as in speed or force: a whirlwind visit to New York. |
| 5. | to move or travel quickly. |
| 6. | reap the whirlwind, to suffer the penalties for one's misdeeds. Hos. 8:7. |
| whirl·wind (hwûrl'wĭnd', wûrl'-) n.
|
Whirlwind computer
An early computer from the MIT Research Laboratory for Electronics.
Whirlwind used electrostatic memory and ran Laning and Zierler (1953); and ALGEBRAIC, COMPREHENSIVE and SUMMER SESSION (all 1959).
[Details, reference?]
(2002-06-03)
whirlwind
a small-diameter columnar vortex of rapidly swirling air. A broad spectrum of vortices occurs in the atmosphere, ranging in scale from small eddies that form in the lee of buildings and topographic features to fire storms, waterspouts, and tornadoes. While the term whirlwind can be applied to any atmospheric vortex, it is commonly restricted to atmospheric systems that are smaller than tornadoes but larger than eddies of microscale turbulence. The generic whirlwind is usually modified to reflect the visible features associated with the whirl; thus there are dust whirls or dust devils, sand whirls or sand pillars, and fire, smoke, snow, and even hay whirls.
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