Whimsey \Whim"sey\, Whimsy \Whimsy\, n.; pl. Whimseysor
Whimsies. [See Whim.]
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1. A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd
conceit. "The whimsies of poets and painters." --Ray.
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Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy. --Swift.
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Mistaking the whimseys of a feverish brain for the
calm revelation of truth. --Bancroft.
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2. (Mining) A whim.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Whim \Whim\, n. [Cf. Icel. hwima to wander with the eyes, vim
giddiness, Norw. kvima to whisk or flutter about, to trifle,
Dan. vimse to skip, whisk, jump from one thing to another,
dial. Sw. hvimsa to be unsteady, dizzy, W. chwimio to move
briskly.]
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1. A sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary
eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a
humor; a caprice.
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Let every man enjoy his whim. --Churchill.
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2. (Mining) A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse
power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from
mines, or for other purposes; -- called also whim gin,
and whimsey.
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Whim gin (Mining), a whim. See Whim, 2.
Whim shaft (Mining), a shaft through which ore, water,
etc., is raised from a mine by means of a whim.
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Syn: Freak; caprice; whimsey; fancy.
Usage: Whim, Freak, Caprice. Freak denotes an
impulsive, inconsiderate change of mind, as by a child
or a lunatic. Whim is a mental eccentricity due to
peculiar processes or habits of thought. Caprice is
closely allied in meaning to freak, but implies more
definitely a quality of willfulness or wantonness.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Whimsey \Whim"sey\, v. t.
To fill with whimseys, or whims; to make fantastic; to craze.
[R.]
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To have a man's brain whimsied with his wealth. --J.
Fletcher.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
whimsey
n 1: an odd or fanciful or capricious idea; "the theatrical
notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his
stories"; "he had a whimsy about flying to the moon";
"whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy
it" [syn: notion, whim, whimsy]
2: the trait of acting unpredictably and more from whim or
caprice than from reason or judgment; "I despair at the
flightiness and whimsicality of my memory" [syn: flightiness,
arbitrariness, whimsicality, whimsy, capriciousness]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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