Word.ws English Dictionary

gave something a whirl

gave something a whirl is the simple past of give something a whirl.

Meaning of give something a whirl

Verb

give something a whirl (third-person singular simple present gives something a whirl, present participle giving something a whirl, simple past gave something a whirl, past participle given something a whirl)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To try, test or attempt.
    • If you've never tried a recumbent bicycle before, you're welcome to give it a whirl.
    Synonyms:
    take for a spin

Questions about gave something a whirl

What is gave something a whirl the simple past of?
Gave something a whirl is the simple past of give something a whirl.

Words near gave something a whirl in the dictionary

  1. gave someone wood
  2. gave something a go
  3. gave something a miss
  4. gave something a shot
  5. gave something a try
  6. gave something a whirl
  7. gave something up as a bad job
  8. gave suck
  9. gave the ax
  10. gave the axe
  11. gave the bird

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave something a whirl (page history and authors); give something a whirl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “gave something a whirl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gave_something_a_whirl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.