Whirlpool

3 definitions found

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

  Whirlpool \Whirl"pool`\, n.
     [1913 Webster]
     1. An eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water
        where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a
        depression or cavity in the center, into which floating
        objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or


        less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular
        channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or
        the like.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A sea monster of the whale kind. [Obs.] --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest
              fishes that are; among which the whales and
              whirlpools, called "balaenae," take up in length as
              much as four . . . arpents of land.   --Holland.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  whirlpool
       n : a powerful circular current of water (usually the resulting
           of conflicting tides) [syn: {vortex}, {maelstrom}]
       v : flow in a circular current, of liquids [syn: {eddy}, {purl},
            {swirl}, {whirl}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  42 Moby Thesaurus words for "whirlpool":
     Charybdis, Maelstrom, ado, back stream, backflow, backwash,
     backwater, bustle, centrifugate, centrifuge, countercurrent,
     counterflow, counterflux, dizzy round, eddy, flurry, furore, fuss,
     gulf, gurge, gyre, maelstrom, pirouette, pother, purl, rat race,
     reel, refluence, reflux, regurgitation, round, spin, surge, swirl,
     turn, twirl, vortex, wheel, whirl, whirligig, whirlwind, whorl