Word.ws English Dictionary

whirlgig

whirlgig is the alternative form of whirligig.

Meaning of whirligig

Noun

whirligig (plural whirligigs)

  1. Anything that whirls or spins around, such as a toy top or a merry-go-round.
  2. A device incorporating spinning, wind-driven propellers or pinwheels, used as whimsical outdoor decoration in a garden or on a porch.
  3. (historical) A device for punishing prisoners, comprising a wooden cage that rapidly spins around to induce nausea.

See all 4 meanings of whirligig

Forms of whirlgig

pluralwhirlgigs

Questions about whirlgig

What is whirlgig the alternative form of?
Whirlgig is the alternative form of whirligig.

Words near whirlgig in the dictionary

  1. whirled
  2. whirleds
  3. whirler
  4. whirlers
  5. whirleth
  6. whirlgig
  7. whirlgigs
  8. whirlicote
  9. whirlicotes
  10. whirlier
  11. whirlies

Source and license

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