whisp

Noun

wisp (countable and uncountable, plural wisps)

1. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; a twisted handful of something; any slender, flexible structure or group.
   • A wisp of hair escaped her barrette and whipped wildly in the wind.
2. A small, thin line of cloud, smoke, or steam.
   • A wisp of smoke rose from the candle for a few moments after he blew it out.
3. A whisk, or small broom.
4. A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus.
   • the wisp that flickers where no foot can tread1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
5. An immeasurable, indefinable essence of life; soul.
   • “She would get nothing from him, she saw, resentfully. Then some angel of grace lent her a few wisps, which she grasped.1982, Kamala Markandaya, Shalimar, Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 154
6. (archaic, collective) A flock of snipe.
   • They shift their quarters in the early part of the season very suddenly, and if a man hears of a wisp of snipe in any particular place, he must be off at once.1861, Horace William Wheelwright, Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist, page 99

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