whisker

whisker Definition

whisker (hwis′kər, wis′-)

noun

1. Archaic a mustache
2. the hair growing on a man's face; esp., the beard on the cheeks
1. a hair of a man's beard
2. any of the long, bristly hairs growing on each side of the upper lip of a cat, rat, etc.; vibrissa
a very small, hairlike, single-crystal filament of high tensile strength, grown on certain metals, alloys, crystals, etc. and serving to reinforce the material
a very small amount or margin to lose an election by a whisker
Naut. either of two spars extending laterally one on each side of the bowsprit, for spreading the jib and flying jib guys

Etymology: ME wisker, something used for whisking: see whisk & -er

whisker Related Forms

whisk′·ered adjective whisk′·ery adjective

whisker Synonyms

facial hair, filament, bristle, cilium; see hair 2.

whisker Usage Examples

Converse of object

have: Otters also have whiskers to help detect fish in muddy waters.
wear: He is tall and slender, has dark brown hair, and wears side whiskers and mustache similar to the Emperor William.
use: On the trout lake Mark Johnson landed fifteen fish the best a rainbow a very respectable 10lb 8oz using cats whisker.

Adjective modifier

missing: Pale eye circles, broken or missing whiskers, broken or kinked tail.
sensitive: They also have extremely sensitive, bristly whiskers for sensing the movements of their prey underwater.
white: Long white whiskers shot out of the sides of their faces, swaying in the breezes caused by the opening of the main door.
green: I shall disguise myself by cutting off my lovely green whiskers.
black: For he wore a pair of long, luxuriant black whiskers such as haven't been seen since Victorian times.
long: Long white whiskers shot out of the sides of their faces, swaying in the breezes caused by the opening of the main door.

Preposition: on

Modifies a noun

diagram: Suppose we have data from three groups, A, B and C for which we want to plot a box and whisker diagram.
plot: By: Developing an ability to construct and interpret dot plots, stem & leaf, and box & whisker plots.
growth: Whisker growth can be reduced by adding lead ( not very helpful!
bed: Front feet meduim lenghth head - cheeks well rounded must not ouch whisker bed or corners of mouth or over past the cheekbone.

Possessives

gnat: The trouble is that he hasn't got a clue, not a gnat's whisker of know-how about building.
cat: They think their take on squashed together living in what is now technically a desert, is the cats ' whiskers.

Noun used with modifier

zinc: ERA can help by Determining whether or not zinc whiskers are present in dust samples taken from regions within an installation.
tin: These crystals have a long aspect ratio, and hence are known as tin whiskers.
cat: The top view of a Radio Electric Company's crystal set with the cats whisker in the center.
side: He was authentic in every detail, right down to long side whiskers.

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