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Wisp vs Whiff - What's the difference?

wisp | whiff |

As nouns the difference between wisp and whiff

is that wisp is a small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; any slender, flexible structure or group while whiff is a waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air.

As verbs the difference between wisp and whiff

is that wisp is to brush or dress, as with a wisp while whiff is to waft.

As an adjective whiff is

(colloquial) having a strong or unpleasant odor.

wisp

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; any slender, flexible structure or group.
    • A wisp of smoke rose from the candle for a few moments after he blew it out.
    A wisp of hair escaped her barrette and whipped wildly in the wind.
  • * Dryden
    • in a small basket, on a wisp of hay
  • A whisk, or small broom.
  • A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus.
  • * Tennyson
    • the wisp that flickers where no foot can tread

    Derived terms

    * will o' the wisp

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To brush or dress, as with a wisp.
  • (UK, dialect) To rumple.
    • (Halliwell)

    whiff

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air
  • An odour carried briefly through the air
  • * (rfdate)
    • everyone has always known, widely promiscuous heterosexual men have, as I say, a whiff of the bathhouse about them.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), Chapter 2
    • A whiff of rotten eggs had vanquished the pale clouded yellows which came pelting across the orchard and up Dods Hill and away on to the moor
  • A short inhalation of breath, especially of smoke from a cigarette or pipe
  • * Longfellow
    • The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, / And a scornful laugh laughed he.
  • (figurative) a slight sign of something; a glimpse
  • * 2012 , Ben Smith, Leeds United 2-1 Everton [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19632366]
    • This was a rare whiff of the big-time for a club whose staple diet became top-flight football for so long - the glamour was in short supply, however. Thousands of empty seats and the driving Yorkshire rain saw to that.
  • (baseball) A strike (from the batter’s perspective)
  • The megrim, a fish .

    • Synonyms

    * puff * sniff * waft

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To waft.
  • To sniff.
  • (baseball) To strike out.
  • (slang) to attempt to strike and miss, especially being off-balance/vulnerable after missing.
  • To throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff.
  • To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • Old Empedocles, who, when he leaped into Etna, having a dry, sear body, and light, the smoke took him, and whiffed him up into the moon.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (colloquial) Having a strong or unpleasant odor.
  • * 2002: Jim Rozen, Way oil in rec.crafts.metalworking
    • Whoo boy that gear oil is pretty whiff . If you actually do this, spend the extra money for the synthetic gear oil as it will not have as bad a sulfur stink as the regular stuff.

    Derived terms

    * whiffle