The Collaborative Dictionary

Wisp \Wisp\, n. [OE. wisp, wips; probably akin to D. & G. wisch, Icel. visk, and perhaps to L. virga a twig, rod. Cf. Verge a rod, Whisk, n.] [1913 Webster]

A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance. [1913 Webster] In a small basket, on a wisp of hay. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

A whisk, or small broom. [1913 Webster]

A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus. [1913 Webster] The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

Wisp \Wisp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wisped; p. pr. & vb. n. Wisping.] [1913 Webster]

To brush or dress, an with a wisp. [1913 Webster]

To rumple. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell. [1913 Webster]

Word Net

wisp

1 a small tuft or lock; "wisps of hair"

2 a small person; "a mere wisp of a girl"

3 a small bundle of straw or hay

4 a flock of snipe

Moby Thesaurus

autoluminescence, bantam, banty, batch, bioluminescence, bunch, button, cathode luminescence, chemicoluminescence, chemiluminescence, chit, clump, cluster, copse, corposant, crop, crystalloluminescence, diminutive, double corposant, electroluminescence, fata morgana, featherweight, fingerling, fluorescence, fox fire, group, grouping, groupment, grove, hassock, ignis fatuus, knot, lightweight, lot, luciferase, luciferin, luminescence, luminophor, marshfire, mess, mini, minikin, minnow, minny, mouse, noctiluscence, nubbin, peewee, phosphor, phosphorescence, photoluminescence, pony, radioluminescence, runt, shock, shrimp, slew, slip, small fry, snip, snippet, stook, thermoluminescence, thicket, tit, tribofluorescence, triboluminescence, tribophosphorescence, tuft, tussock, wart, witch fire

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪsp

Noun

1. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; any slender, flexible structure or group.

   A wisp of smoke rose from the candle for a few moments after he blew it out.

   A wisp of hair escaped her barette and whipped wildly in the wind.

Translations

• French: brin , fétu , touffe
• Spanish: brizna , mechón , voluta , jirón

• Will-o'-the-wisp is a term for a floating ball of light in folklore. The term and variants on it have been used for other purposes.
• Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) with wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi, WiMAX) "last mile" connections (as compared to dial-up, DSL, cable modem, etc.).
• Wisp was the birth name of a fictional young orphan girl who would later become known as Rainbow Brite.
• Night wisp, a fictional creature in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
• Wisp is an IDM artist signed to Rephlex Records.
• Wisp is a ski resort located in Garrett County, Maryland.
• One of the elemental spirits in the Seiken Densetsu series.
• The form a Night Elf takes when dead, in the MMORPG, World of Warcraft