In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
WISP
wisp
(noun) a small tuft or lock; “wisps of hair”
wisp
(noun) a flock of snipe
wisp
(noun) a small bundle of straw or hay
wisp
(noun) a small person; “a mere wisp of a girl”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Noun
WISP (plural WISPs)
Acronym of wireless internet service provider. (wireless ISP)
Coordinate terms
• WiFi
• WiMax
Anagrams
• PWIs, WIPs
Etymology
Noun
wisp (countable and uncountable, plural wisps)
A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; any slender, flexible structure or group.
A whisk, or small broom.
A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus.
An immeasurable, indefinable essence of life; soul.
(uncountable) A disease affecting the feet of cattle.
Verb
wisp (third-person singular simple present wisps, present participle wisping, simple past and past participle wisped)
To brush or dress, as with a wisp.
(UK, dialect) To rumple.
(intransitive) To produce a wisp, as of smoke.
Anagrams
• PWIs, WIPs
Source: Wiktionary
Wisp, n. Etym: [OE. wisp, wips; probably akin to D. & G. wisch, Icel. visk, and perhaps to L. virga a twig, rod. Cf. Verge a rod, Whisk, n.]
1. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance. In a small basket, on a wisp of hay. Dryden.
2. A whisk, or small broom.
3. A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus. The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread. Tennyson.
Wisp, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wisped; p. pr. & vb. n. Wisping.]
1. To brush or dress, an with a wisp.
2. To rumple. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
22 February 2025
ANALYSIS
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
Coffee Trivia
