*whiff*

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Whiffed p. pr. & vb. n. Whiffing. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away. [ 1913 Webster ]

Old Empedocles, . . . who, when he leaped into Etna, having a dry, sear body, and light, the smoke took him, and whiffed him up into the moon. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To emit whiffs, as of smoke; to puff. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A little whiff or puff. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of one who, or that which, whiffs. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A mode of fishing with a hand line for pollack, mackerel, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A fife or small flute. [ Obs. ] Douce. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Whiffled p. pr. & vb. n. Whiffling ] [ Freq. of whiff to puff, perhaps influenced by D. weifelen to waver. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about. D&unr_;mpier. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

A person of whiffing and unsteady turn of mind can not keep close to a point of controversy. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a trifler. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the chocolate house shall talk of the constitution. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king,
Seems to prepare his way. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

☞ “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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) The golden-eye. [ Local, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]