wisp

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English wispe, wyspe, wips, wipse, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *wisp, *wips. Cognate with West Frisian wisp, Dutch wisp (“bundle of hay or straw”), Norwegian bokmål/Swedish/Bornholm Danish visp (“handful or bundle of grass, hay, etc.”). Akin also to Middle Dutch/Middle Low German wispel (“measure of grain”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /wɪsp/ Rhymes: -ɪsp === Noun === wisp (countable and uncountable, plural wisps) A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; a twisted handful of something; any slender, flexible structure or group. A small, thin line of cloud, smoke, or steam. A whisk, or small broom. A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus. An immeasurable, indefinable essence of life; soul. (archaic) A flock of snipe. (uncountable) A disease affecting the feet of cattle. ==== Derived terms ==== will o' the wisp ==== Translations ==== === Verb === wisp (third-person singular simple present wisps, present participle wisping, simple past and past participle wisped) (transitive) To brush or dress, as with a wisp. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To rumple. (intransitive) To produce a wisp, as of smoke. (transitive) To emit in wisps. === Anagrams === IPWs, WIPs, swip, PWIs == Middle English == === Noun === wisp alternative form of wyspe