Word.ws English Dictionary

whiffling

whiffling is the present participle and gerund of whiffle.

Noun

whiffling (plural whifflings)

  1. Aimless talk; waffle.
  2. A breathy noise, as of a horse or a bird.
    • It was pleasant in the shade. Peaceful. The leaves of an overhanging banyan tree cast restful shadows across the blanket. Around the side of the shrine, Alex could hear the gentle whifflings and slurping noises as the horses grazed […]2010, Lauren Willig, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily

Meaning of whiffle

Verb

whiffle (third-person singular simple present whiffles, present participle whiffling, simple past and past participle whiffled)

  1. To blow a short gust.
  2. To waffle, talk aimlessly.
  3. (UK) To waste time.
  4. To travel quickly with an accompanying wind-like sound; whizz, whistle along.
  5. To descend rapidly from a height once the decision to land has been made, involving fast side-slipping first one way and then the other.
  6. (intransitive) To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
    • [S]ometimes it may happen that ſuch a Cloud may appear ſeveral Mornings and Evenings, and we may not feel the effects of it, or but very little; yet we always provide againſt it; for a North never comes without ſuch a foreboding Cloud. But if the VVinds also vvhiffle about to the South, with fair...1699, William Dampier, “Of Storms”, in Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, part (please specify |part=I to III), page 61

See all 13 meanings of whiffle

Forms of whiffling

pluralwhifflings

Questions about whiffling

What does whiffling mean?
Whiffling means aimless talk; waffle.
What is whiffling the present participle and gerund of?
Whiffling is the present participle and gerund of whiffle.
What part of speech is whiffling?
Whiffling is a noun.
What is the plural of whiffling?
The plural of whiffling is whifflings.

Words near whiffling in the dictionary

  1. whifflery
  2. whiffles
  3. Whifflet
  4. whiffletree
  5. whiffletrees
  6. whiffling
  7. whifflings
  8. whiffs
  9. whiffy
  10. whiftier
  11. whiftiest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whiffling (page history and authors); whiffle (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: “whiffling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whiffling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.