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whirring

[hwur, wur]

Origin

verb (used without object)

to go, fly, revolve, or otherwise move quickly with a humming or buzzing sound: An electric fan whirred softly in the corner.

verb (used with object)

to move or transport (a thing, person, etc.) with a whirring sound: The plane whirred them away into the night.

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Whirring is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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noun

an act or sound of whirring: the whir of wings.

Also, whirr.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English quirre (Scots ) < Scandinavian; compare Danish hvirre, Norwegian kvirra. See whirl

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used without object), verb (used with object), noun

whir.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To whirring

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

whir

c.1400, Scottish, "fling, hurl," probably from O.N. hvirfla, freq. of hverfa "to turn" (see wharf). Cf. Dan. hvirvle, Du. wervelen, Ger. wirbeln "to whirl."

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Matching Quote

"Once, when dust rolled up from the road and the fields were high with heavy-handled wheat and the leaves of every tree were gray and curledup and hung head down, I went in the meadow with an old broom like a gun, where the dandelions had begun to seed and the low ground was cracked, and I flushed grasshoppers from the goldenrod in whirring clouds like quail and shot them down. I smelled wheat in the warm wind and every weed. I tasted dust in my mouth.... I hunted Horse Simon in the shade of a tree. I rode the broom over the brown meadow grass and with a fist like pistol butt and trigger shot the Indian on Horse Simon down.... My horse had a golden tail. Dust rolled up behind. He was on the tractor in a broad-brimmed hat. With a fist like a pistol butt and trigger, going fast, I shot him down."

-William Gass

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