2. To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
Whiffle
(Whif"fle), n. A fife or small flute. [Obs.] Douce.
Whiffler
(Whif"fler) n.
1. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in
argument; hence, a trifler.
Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the chocolate house shall talk of the constitution.
Swift. 2. One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper. [Obs.]
3. An officer who went before procession to clear the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any
person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king,
Seems to prepare his way.
Shak.
"Whifflers, or fifers, generally went first in a procession, from which circumstance the name was transferred
to other persons who succeeded to that office, and at length was given to those who went forward merely
to clear the way for the procession. . . . In the city of London, young freemen, who march at the head
of their proper companies on the Lord Mayor's day, sometimes with flags, were called whifflers, or bachelor
whifflers, not because they cleared the way, but because they went first, as whifflers did." Nares.
4. (Zoöl) The golden-eye. [Local, U. S.]
Whiffletree
(Whif"fle*tree`) n. Same as Whippletree.
Whig
(Whig) n. [See Whey.] Acidulated whey, sometimes mixed with buttermilk and sweet herbs,
used as a cooling beverage. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Whig
(Whig), n. [Said to be from whiggam, a term used in Scotland in driving horses, whiggamore
one who drives horses contracted to whig. In 1648, a party of these people marched to Edinburgh to
oppose the king and the duke of Hamilton and hence the name of Whig was given to the party opposed
to the court. Cf. Scot. whig to go quickly.]
1. (Eng. Politics) One of a political party which grew up in England in the seventeenth century, in the
reigns of Charles I. and II., when great contests existed respecting the royal prerogatives and the rights
of the people. Those who supported the king in his high claims were called Tories, and the advocates
of popular rights, of parliamentary power over the crown, and of toleration to Dissenters, were, after
1679, called Whigs. The terms Liberal and Radical have now generally superseded Whig in English
politics. See the note under Tory.
2. (Amer. Hist.) (a) A friend and supporter of the American Revolution; — opposed to Tory, and Royalist.
(b) One of the political party in the United States from about 1829 to 1856, opposed in politics to the
Democratic party.
Whig
(Whig), a. Of or pertaining to the Whigs.
Whiggamore
(Whig"ga*more) n. [See Whig.] A Whig; — a cant term applied in contempt to Scotch
Presbyterians. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.
Whiggarchy
(Whig"gar*chy) n. [Whig + - archy.] Government by Whigs. [Cont] Swift.
Whiggery
(Whig"ger*y) n. The principles or practices of the Whigs; Whiggism.
