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whisker

Syllabification: (whisk·er)
Pronunciation: /ˈ(h)wiskər/
Translate whisker | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of whisker

noun

  • 1a long projecting hair or bristle growing from the face or snout of many mammals.
  • (whiskers) the hair growing on a man’s face, especially on his cheeks.
  • a single crystal of a material in the form of a filament with no dislocations.
  • 2 (a whisker) informal a very small amount:they won the election by a whisker
  • 3a spar for extending the clews of a sail so that it can catch more wind.

Phrases

within a whisker of

informal extremely close or near to doing, achieving, or suffering something.

Derivatives

whiskered

adjective

whiskery

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English (originally denoting a bundle of feathers, twigs, etc., used for whisking): from the verb whisk + -er1

whisker in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of whisker in the British & World English dictionary