English

Zinc whiskers (tendrils that form on metal).

Noun

whisker ‎(plural whiskers)

1. That part of the beard which grows upon the sides of the face, usually of the male, or upon the chin, or upon both.
   • 2003, Hanne Blank, Unruly Appetites: Erotic Stories

     He licked my ass cheek, then rubbed his face across my butt. I winced as his two-day whiskers rubbed the welts but said nothing. Then he growled and I felt his teeth digging into me, crushing, tearing, sinking deep and tight into my battered, stinging ass at the same time that he shoved three fingers deep into my ****.

2. A hair of the beard.
3. One of the long, projecting hairs growing at the sides of the mouth of a cat, or other animal.
4. (colloquial) The (very small) distance between two things
   • It missed falling on your foot by a whisker.
   • 2011 May 14, Peter Scrivener, “Sunderland 1 - 3 Wolverhampton”, in BBC Sport:

     Boosted by their reward, Wolves continued to push forward and Jamie O'Hara came within a whisker of doubling the lead, smashing a 25-yard effort on to the bar.

5. (nautical) spreaders from the bows to spread the bowsprit shrouds.
6. (statistics) a graphic element that shows the maxima and minima in a box plot
7. One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
8. (metallurgy) A small tendril that forms on metal.

Derived terms

• cat’s whiskers

Translations

See also

• whisker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• whisker in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.