Whiffler

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Whiffler \Whif"fler\, n.
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     1. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or
        course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument;
        hence, a trifler.
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              Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the
              chocolate house shall talk of the constitution.
                                                    --Swift.
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     2. One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper. [Obs.]
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     3. An officer who went before procession to clear the way by
        blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who
        marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
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              Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king,
              Seems to prepare his way.             --Shak.
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     Note: "Whifflers, or fifers, generally went first in a
           procession, from which circumstance the name was
           transferred to other persons who succeeded to that
           office, and at length was given to those who went
           forward merely to clear the way for the procession. . .
           . In the city of London, young freemen, who march at
           the head of their proper companies on the Lord Mayor's
           day, sometimes with flags, were called whifflers, or
           bachelor whifflers, not because they cleared the way,
           but because they went first, as whifflers did."
           --Nares.
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     4. (Zool.) The golden-eye. [Local, U. S.]
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