whisker
part of speech
noun (a whisker, whiskers)
meaning for a pupil
1) One of the long stiff hairs that grow near the mouth of a cat, a mouse, a seal and many other animals, used to feel things. tree →
2) (whiskers) Hair growing on a man's face. tree →
3) (informal) A very small amount or distance: "by a whisker" means only just. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons, whiskers help animals such as cats feel their way in the dark and judge if they can fit through a gap. In sport and everyday talk, "won by a whisker" means won by a tiny amount. Phrases: "by a whisker", "within a whisker of", "the cat's whiskers" (old-fashioned: the very best).
examples
- The cat's whiskers twitched as it smelled the fish. tree →
- Whiskers help a cat feel its way in the dark. tree →
- We won the race by a whisker. tree →
- She came within a whisker of beating the record. tree →
- Grandpa had grey whiskers on his chin. tree →
- The mouse cleaned its whiskers with its paws. tree →
- Seals use their whiskers to find fish in murky water. tree →
- In a moment not a tail or a whisker was to be seen. tree →
note
Countable: a whisker, whiskers. "Whiskered" means having whiskers. Do not confuse with "whisky" (an alcoholic drink) or "whisk" (a kitchen tool). Never cut a cat's whiskers; it needs them.
In the corpora
- Seal whiskers are so sensitive that a blindfolded seal followed a fish's water trail that was more than 30 seconds old.
- Walruses find clams on the dark seabed with hundreds of sensitive whiskers and suck them out of their shells.
- A sturgeon has five rows of bony plates along its body and four whiskers under its snout to feel for food.
- Off with his whiskers!» (collar = grab), and by the time the court settles, the cook has gone.
- Something small and bright twinkles inside it, and a face grows round it: brown and small, with whiskers.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «whisker» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.