Hypertext Webster Gateway: "whirlpool"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Whirlpool \Whirl"pool`\, n.
1. An eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water
where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a
depression or cavity in the center, into which floating
objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or
less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular
channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or
the like.
2. A sea monster of the whale kind. [Obs.] --Spenser.
The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest
fishes that are; among which the whales and
whirlpools, called ``bal[ae]n[ae],'' take up in
length as much as four . . . arpents of land.
--Holland.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
whirlpool
n : a powerful circular current of water (usually the resulting
of conflicting tides) [syn: {vortex}, {maelstrom}]
v : flow in a circular current, of liquids [syn: {eddy}, {purl},
{swirl}, {whirl}]
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