whirl (noun)
1: confused movement; "he was caught up in a whirl of work"; "a commotion of people fought for the exits" [syn: commotion]
2: the shape of something rotating rapidly [syn: swirl, vortex, convolution]
3: a usually brief attempt; "he took a crack at it"; "I gave it a whirl" [syn: crack, fling, go, pass, offer]
4: the act of rotating rapidly; "he gave the crank a spin"; "it broke off after much twisting" [syn: spin, twirl, twist, twisting]
whirl
(verb)
1: turn in a twisting or spinning motion; "The leaves swirled in the autumn wind" [syn: twirl, swirl, twiddle]
2: cause to spin; "spin a coin" [syn: birl, spin, twirl]
3: flow in a circular current, of liquids [syn: eddy, purl, whirlpool, swirl]
4: revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis; "The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy" [syn: spin, spin around, reel, gyrate]
5: fly around; "The clothes tumbled in the dryer"; "rising smoke whirled in the air" [syn: tumble, whirl around]