noun
1.
a handful or small bundle of straw, hay, or the like.
2.
any thin tuft, lock, mass, etc.: wisps of hair.
3.
a thin puff or streak, as of smoke; slender trace.
4.
a person or thing that is small, delicate, or barely discernible: a mere wisp of a lad; a wisp of a frown.
5.
a whisk broom.
verb (used with object)
8.
to twist into a wisp.
00:10
Wisp
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is kibitz. Does it mean:
| to spend time idly; loaf. |
| chat, to converse |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To wisp
Collins
World English Dictionary
wisp (wɪsp) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a thin, light, delicate, or fibrous piece or strand, such as a streak of smoke or a lock of hair |
| 2. | a small bundle, as of hay or straw |
| 3. | anything slender and delicate: a wisp of a girl |
| 4. | a mere suggestion or hint |
| 5. | a flock of birds, esp snipe |
| —vb (often foll by away) | |
| 6. | to move or act like a wisp |
| 7. | dialect chiefly (Brit) (tr) to twist into a wisp |
| 8. | chiefly (Brit) (tr) to groom (a horse) with a wisp of straw, etc |
| [C14: variant of wips, of obscure origin; compare | |
| 'wisplike | |
| —adj | |
| WISP (wɪsp) | |
| —n acronym for | |
| Wireless Information Service Provider: an internet service provider set up to deal with and deliver internet services to clients through wireless access points | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
wisp
c.1300, "handful or bundle of hay, grass, etc.," used for burning or cleaning or as a cushion; perhaps from an unrecorded O.E. word, cognate with Norw. and Swed. visp "wisp," of unknown origin; sometimes said to be connected with whisk or with M.L.G. and M.Du. wispel "a measure of grain." Meaning "thin,
filmy portion" first attested 1836.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary
Wisp definition
["An Experiment with a Self-Compiling Compiler for a Simple List-Processing Language", M.V. Wilkes, Ann Rev Automatic Programming 4:1-48. (1964)].
Example sentences
The wisp of yet another thought floats by and evaporates.
He grasped at a wisp of music that had been winding through his dream, but it was gone.
If the foregoing gives the impression that this film is no wisp of gossamer, our opinion has been verily transmitted.
The chocolate offers only a wisp of cocoa flavor and the lemon bears a strongly artificial note.
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