WHIMSY

flightiness, arbitrariness, whimsicality, whimsy, whimsey, capriciousness

(noun) 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”

notion, whim, whimsy, whimsey

(noun) 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”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

whimsy (usually uncountable, plural whimsies)

A quaint and fanciful idea; a whim; playfully odd behaviour.

An impulsive, illogical or capricious character.

(mining) A whim (capstan or vertical drum).

A jigsaw puzzle piece that has been cut into a recognizable shape, as if on a whim; often the shape is representative of the theme of the image used for the puzzle.

Verb

whimsy (third-person singular simple present whimsies, present participle whimsying, simple past and past participle whimsied)

(transitive) To fill with whimsies or whims; to make fantastic; to craze.

To have a man's brain whimsied with his wealth.

Source: Wiktionary


Whim"sey, Whimsy, n.; pl. Whimseys or Whimsies. Etym: [See Whim.]

1. A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit. "The whimsies of poets and painters." Ray. Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy. Swift. Mistaking the whimseys of a feverish brain for the calm revelation of truth. Bancroft.

2. (Mining)

Definition: A whim.

Whim"sy, n.

Definition: A whimsey.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

26 December 2024

CHATTEL

(noun) personal as opposed to real property; any tangible movable property (furniture or domestic animals or a car etc)


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.

coffee icon