whorl
noun
\ ˈhwȯr(-ə)l
, ˈwȯr(-ə)l, ˈ(h)wər(-ə)l
\
, ˈwȯr(-ə)l, ˈ(h)wər(-ə)l
\
Definition of whorl
1
: a drum-shaped section on the lower part of a spindle in spinning or weaving machinery serving as a pulley for the tape drive that rotates the spindle
2
: an arrangement of similar anatomical parts (such as leaves) in a circle around a point on an axis
3
: something that whirls, coils, or spirals or whose form suggests such movement : swirl
whorls of snow
4
: one of the turns of a univalve shell
5
: a fingerprint in which the central papillary ridges turn through at least one complete circle
Examples of whorl in a Sentence
the whorls and eddies of the river
the whorl of a fingerprint
Recent Examples on the Web
But there’s a catch: an animal must be the one responsible for the sculpture and can use nothing but its tongue to shape divots, swirls and whorls into the 50-pound square block. — Jennifer Nalewicki, Smithsonian, "Who Says Horses and Cows Can’t Be Artists?," 21 Aug. 2019 Just cut the head, when harvesting, just above the bottom whorl of leaves. — Washington Post, "Want a second crop of cabbage this season? 2 methods," 14 Aug. 2019 Her seasonal danishes are outstanding: whorls of buttery dough festooned with crunchy sugar crystals and filled with guava or strawberry-rhubarb jams. — Chris Morocco, Bon Appétit, "Rockaway Beach Bakery Is the Real Reason I Go to the Beach," 9 Aug. 2019 Items discovered during the excavation include soapstone from the Shetland Islands, pottery and a bone spindle whorl. — Fox News, "Viking drinking hall discovered on remote Scottish island," 8 Aug. 2019 The technology behind these systems is based on algorithms that create a unique code for each user based on their bioidentifiers—mapping the ridges and whorls of a fingertip or counting the pixels between a set of eyes. — Amy Gamerman, WSJ, "Home Is Where They Know Your Name (and Face, Hands and Fingerprints)," 20 June 2019 These swirls then break into smaller swirls, with those swirls begetting ever-smaller whorls, an unpredictable cascade that dissipates the energy from the original smooth stream. — Quanta Magazine, "The Trouble With Turbulence," 28 Jan. 2019 But while other phones such as the OnePlus 6T feature an optical sensor that uses light to read your fingerprint, the S10 uses sound waves to map the whorls and loops. — Michael Simon, PCWorld, "10 Samsung Galaxy S10, S10e, and S10+ features that actually surprised us," 20 Feb. 2019 One night, as outside winds stirred up dusty whorls of snow in the parking lot, whipped across the plains and over the treaty land where the camps had been, inside felt briefly desolate, too. — Rebecca Bengal, Vogue, "The Power of Nathan Phillips’s Song," 21 Jan. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'whorl.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for whorl
whorl
noun
English Language Learners Definition of whorl
: something that turns or goes around in a circle
: a pattern that is made by a series of circles that turn around a center point
technical
: an arrangement of leaves, petals, etc., that forms a circle around a stem
See the full definition for whorl in the English Language Learners Dictionary
whorl
noun
\ ˈhwȯrl
, ˈwȯrl, ˈhwərl, ˈwərl\
, ˈwȯrl, ˈhwərl, ˈwərl\
Kids Definition of whorl
1
: a row of parts (as leaves or petals) encircling a stem
2
: something that whirls or winds
a whorl of smoke
whorl
noun
\ ˈhwor(-ə)l
, ˈwȯr(-ə)l
, ˈ(h)wər(-ə)l\
, ˈwȯr(-ə)l
, ˈ(h)wər(-ə)l\
Medical Definition of whorl
: a fingerprint in which the central papillary ridges turn through at least one complete turn
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