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Whiffle vs Whiffler - What's the difference?

whiffle | whiffler |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between whiffle and whiffler

is that whiffle is (obsolete) a fife or small flute while whiffler is (obsolete) an officer who went before a procession to clear the way, by blowing a horn or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.

As nouns the difference between whiffle and whiffler

is that whiffle is a short blow or gust while whiffler is (obsolete) one who whiffles, or frequently changes his or her opinion or course.

As a verb whiffle

is to blow a short gust.

whiffle

English

(whiffling)

Alternative forms

* wiffle

Noun

(en noun)
  • A short blow or gust
  • (obsolete) Something small or insignificant; a trifle.
  • (obsolete) A fife or small flute.
    • (Douce)

    Verb

    (whiffl)
  • to blow a short gust
  • to waffle, talk aimlessly
  • (British) to waste time
  • to travel quickly, whizz, whistle, with an accompanying wind-like sound
  • (ornithology, of a bird) to descending rapidly from a height once the decision to land has been made, involving fast side-slipping first one way and then the other
  • To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
    • (Dampier)
  • To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
  • To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle.
  • * I. Watts
    • A person of whiffling and unsteady turn of mind cannot keep close to a point of controversy.
  • To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter.

    • Derived terms

    * wiffleball

    References

    whiffler

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) One who whiffles, or frequently changes his or her opinion or course.
  • (obsolete) One who argues evasively; a trifler.
    • Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the chocolate house shall talk of the constitution. — Swift.
  • (obsolete) One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper.
  • (obsolete) An officer who went before a procession to clear the way, by blowing a horn or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
    • Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king, / Seems to prepare his way. — Shakespeare.
    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.
  • (US, dialect) The goldeneye.
    • (Webster 1913)