whorl

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whorl

one of the ridges of a fingerprint; a coil or curl: whorls of frost on a window

Not to be confused with:

whirl – rotate or spin rapidly: The blades of the windmill whirl in the breeze.

whorl

whorls of leaves

whorl

(wôrl, hwôrl, wûrl, hwûrl)

1. A form that coils or spirals; a curl or swirl: spread the icing in peaks and whorls.

2. Botany An arrangement of three or more leaves, petals, or other organs arising from a single node.

3. Zoology A single turn or volution of a spiral shell.

4. One of the circular ridges or convolutions of a fingerprint.

a. A small pulley that regulates the speed of the bobbin of a spinning wheel.

b. A small flywheel that regulates the speed of a hand-operated spindle.

[Middle English whorle, alteration of whirle, whirl, from whirlen, to whirl; see whirl.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

whorl

(wɜːl)

1. (Botany) botany a radial arrangement of three or more petals, stamens, leaves, etc, around a stem

2. (Zoology) zoology a single turn in a spiral shell

3. (Anatomy) one of the basic patterns of the human fingerprint, formed by several complete circular ridges one inside another. Compare arch¹^4b, loop¹^10a

4. anything shaped like a coil

[C15: probably variant of wherville whirl, influenced by Dutch worvel]

whorled adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

whorl

(ʰwɜrl, ʰwɔrl, wɜrl, wɔrl)

n.

1. a circular arrangement of like parts, as leaves or flowers, around a point on an axis; verticil.

2. one of the turns or volutions of a spiral shell.

3. anything shaped like a coil.

4. one of the central ridges of a fingerprint that form at least one complete circle.

5. a flywheel or pulley, as for a spindle.

[1425–75; whorle, whorvil, wharwyl, Old English hwyrfel=hweorfa whorl of a spindle]

whorl

- A variant of whirl, it first meant "small flywheel."

See also related terms for whirl.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	whorl - a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals) curl, curlicue, gyre, ringlet, scroll, coil, roll corolla - (botany) the whorl of petals of a flower that collectively form an inner floral envelope or layer of the perianth; "we cultivate the flower for its corolla" calyx - (botany) the whorl of sepals of a flower collectively forming the outer floral envelope or layer of the perianth enclosing and supporting the developing bud; usually green round shape - a shape that is curved and without sharp angles verticil - a whorl of leaves growing around a stem
	2.	whorl - a strand or cluster of hair lock, ringlet, curl hair - a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss; "he combed his hair"; "each hair consists of layers of dead keratinized cells" coif, coiffure, hair style, hairdo, hairstyle - the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair) sausage curl - a fat sausage-shaped curl forelock - a lock of hair growing (or falling) over the forehead crimp - a lock of hair that has been artificially waved or curled dreadlock - one of many long thin braids of hair radiating from the scalp; popularized by Rastafarians
	3.	whorl - a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops; "a coil of rope" coil, helix, volute, spiral hank - a coil of rope or wool or yarn structure, construction - a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts; "the structure consisted of a series of arches"; "she wore her hair in an amazing construction of whirls and ribbons"

whorl

noun swirl, spiral, coil, twist, vortex, helix, corkscrew The plant has dense whorls of red-purple flowers.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

Wirbel

spira voluta

whorl

[wɜːl] N [of shell] → espira f; [of fingerprint] → espiral m (Bot) → verticilo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

whorl

[ˈ^hwɜː^rl] n (literary) → volute f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

whorl

n → Kringel m; (of shell) → (Spiral)windung f; (Bot) → Quirl m, → Wirtel m; (of fingerprint) → Wirbel m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

whorl

[wɜːl] n (of shell) → voluta

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

whorl

n. espiral.

1. disposición de fibras en forma esférica, esp. las fibras cardíacas;

2. tipo de huella digital.

References in classic literature ?

He did these pantograph enlargements on sheets of white cardboard, and made each individual line of the bewildering maze of whorls or curves or loops which consisted of the "pattern" of a "record" stand out bold and black by reinforcing it with ink.

If you will look at the balls of your fingers-- you that have very sharp eyesight--you will observe that these dainty curving lines lie close together, like those that indicate the borders of oceans in maps, and that they form various clearly defined patterns, such as arches, circles, long curves, whorls, etc., and that these patters differ on the different fingers.

View in context

In the vertebrata, we see a series of internal vertebrae bearing certain processes and appendages; in the articulata, we see the body divided into a series of segments, bearing external appendages; and in flowering plants, we see a series of successive spiral whorls of leaves.

View in context

"Come, Tarzan," cried D'Arnot, "let's see what your whorls look like."

"From infancy to senility the fingerprints of an individual change only in size, except as injuries alter the loops and whorls. But if imprints have been taken of the thumb and four fingers of both hands one must needs lose all entirely to escape identification."

View in context

Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows and looked at him in amazement through the thin blue wreaths of smoke that curled up in such fanciful whorls from his heavy, opium-tainted cigarette.

View in context

They have audaciously adjusted, in the name of "good taste," upon the wounds of gothic architecture, their miserable gewgaws of a day, their ribbons of marble, their pompons of metal, a veritable leprosy of egg-shaped ornaments, volutes, whorls, draperies, garlands, fringes, stone flames, bronze clouds, pudgy cupids, chubby- cheeked cherubim, which begin to devour the face of art in the oratory of Catherine de Medicis, and cause it to expire, two centuries later, tortured and grimacing, in the boudoir of the Dubarry.

View in context

"Behind her was a dim room scantly illumined by the one small candle that had guided us through the storm; but the old Waterloo stove was colouring the gloom with tremulous, rose-red whorls of light, and warm and cosy indeed seemed Peg's retreat to us snow- covered, frost-chilled, benighted wanderers.

View in context

The shaft and hook of this spindle are made of steel, and the whorl is made partly of steel and also partly of other materials.

View in context

The morning mist swept off in a whorl of silver, the parrots shot away to some distant river in shrieking green hosts: all the well-wheels within ear-shot went to work.

View in context

Muscle scars are well known in Palaeozoic members of the bilaterally symmetrical (isostrophic) Bellerophon group where the gastropod shell is coiled through several whorls and both umbilical shoulders may be well exposed in internal moulds (Knight 1947; Peel 1972, 1976, 1993; Horny 1995a, 1997b, 1997c, 1997d, 1999).

Muscle scars in euomphaline gastropods from the Ordovician of Baltica/Lihaste kinnitusjaljed euomphaliinsetel tigudel Baltika Ordoviitsiumis

The words "baruch ata Adonai," carried on whorls of organ and reverb, echoed through the hushed vastness of the Effenaar, Eindhoven's handsome gray cube of a rock club, as a reggae show began with a Hebrew prayer.

Alpha Blondy Says 'Thank You, Israel'

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