English
Etymology
From Middle English whirlewind, whirlewynde, equivalent to whirl + wind. Compare Middle Dutch wervelwint, Old Norse hvirfilvindr.
Pronunciation
Noun
whirlwind (plural whirlwinds)
- A windstorm of limited extent, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air.
1713, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Fifth Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], →OCLC, paragraph XXXVIII, page 515:VVhile in the mean time there iſſued out on the Eaſt-ſide a ſtrong VVind, but pure and refreſhing, vvhich dividing into ſeveral parts that turned round became ſo many innocuous VVhirl-vvinds of ſincere Air, tinctured only vvith a cool refreſhing ſmell, as if it had paſſed over ſome large field of Lilies and Roſes.
1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, / His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, / And turbulence, as if a whirlwind’s gust / Surrounded us; […]
- (figurative) A person or body of objects or events sweeping violently onward.
Once he got that new scooter he turned into a whirlwind and damaged all the flowers.
The weeks leading up to the convention were a whirlwind of preparation and hurried activity.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
violent windstorm of limited extent characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air
- Albanian: shakullinë (sq) f
- Arabic: زَوْبَعَة f (zawbaʕa)
- Armenian: մրրիկ (hy) (mrrik)
- Asturian: torbolín m, terbulín m
- Azerbaijani: qasırğa, burağan, burulğan (az)
- Bashkir: ҡойон (qoyon)
- Belarusian: ві́хур m (víxur), ві́хура f (víxura)
- Breton: avel-dro (br) f
- Bulgarian: ви́хър (bg) m (víhǎr), вихрушка (bg) f (vihruška)
- Burmese: လေကတော့ (my) (leka.tau.), လေပွေ (my) (le-pwe), ရေကတော့ (my) (reka.tau.)
- Catalan: terbolí (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Dungan: щүанфыр (xüanfɨr)
- Mandarin: 旋風 / 旋风 (zh) (xuànfēng), 飆 / 飙 (zh) (biāo)
- Chukchi: янрайгын (janrajgyn)
- Czech: smršť (cs) f
- Danish: hvirvelvind c
- Dutch: windhoos (nl) m or f, wervelwind (nl) m
- Esperanto: ciklono
- Estonian: tuulispask
- Finnish: pyörremyrsky (fi), pyörretuuli
- French: cyclone (fr) m
- Galician: remuíño (gl) m, voraxen f, refolión m, refolada (gl) f
- Georgian: გრიგალი (grigali), ქარიშხალი (karišxali)
- German: Wirbelwind m, Wirbelsturm (de) m
- Greek: ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos)
- Ancient: λαῖλαψ f (laîlaps)
- Greenlandic: anoraarsuaq
- Hindi: बवंडर (hi) m (bavaṇḍar), चक्रवात (hi) m (cakravāt)
- Hungarian: forgószél (hu)
- Ido: aerovortico
- Ingrian: viihkura
- Irish: cuaifeach m
- Italian: turbine (it) m
- Japanese: 旋風 (ja) (つむじかぜ, tsumujikaze)
- Kazakh: құйын (qūiyn)
- Khmer: កំបុតត្បូង (km) (kɑmbot tboung)
- Korean: 선풍 (ko) (seonpung)
- Kyrgyz: куюн (kuyun)
- Lao: ຫົວກຸດ (hūa kut), ຈັກກະວາດ (chak ka wāt)
- Latin: turbō (la) m, vertex m
- Latvian: viesulis m
- Lithuanian: viesulas m
- Macedonian: ви́ор m (víor)
- Maori: tūkauati, āwhiowhio, ānewa o te rangi, urupuhau
- Mongolian: хуй (mn) (xuj)
- Navajo: náátsʼóʼoołdísii
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: virvelvind m
- Nynorsk: virvelvind m, kvervelvind
- Old English: þoden m
- Oromo: bubbee
- Ottoman Turkish: بوراغان (burağan), طولومبه (tulumba)
- Persian: گردباد (fa) (gerdbâd)
- Plautdietsch: Wirbelstorm m
- Polish: trąba powietrzna (pl) f
- Portuguese: turbilhão (pt) m
- Punjabi: ਵਾਵਰੋਲਾ (vāvrolā)
- Russian: вихрь (ru) m (vixrʹ), смерч (ru) m (smerč) (tornado)
- Scottish Gaelic: ioma-ghaoth f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ви̏хор m
- Roman: vȉhor (sh) m
- Slovak: víchrica (sk) f
- Slovene: vihar (sl) m
- Spanish: torbellino (es) m
- Swedish: virvelvind (sv) c
- Tagalog: buhawi, ipu-ipo
- Tajik: гирдбод (tg) (girdbod)
- Tatar: коен (qoyen)
- Telugu: సుడిగాలి (te) (suḍigāli)
- Thai: ลมวน (lom-won), พายุหมุน (paa-yú-mǔn), บ้าหมู (bâa-mǔu)
- Turkish: burağan (tr), kasırga (tr)
- Ukrainian: ви́хор m (výxor)
- Uyghur: قۇيۇن (quyun)
- Uzbek: uyurma (uz), quyun (uz)
- Vietnamese: gió lốc (vi), lốc (vi)
- Welsh: troellwynt m, awel dro f, corwynt m, trowynt m
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body of objects or events sweeping violently onward
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Adjective
whirlwind (not comparable)
- Rapid and minimal.
a whirlwind tour, a whirlwind romance
2016, Nina Milne, Rafael's Contract Bride, page 60:So you aren't deserting the Caversham ship. They'll understand. After all, their courtship was pretty whirlwind itself.
See also