Whirl"pool` (?), n.

1.

An eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a depression or cavity in the center, into which floating objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or the like.

2.

A sea monster of the whale kind.

[Obs.]

Spenser.

The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest fishes that are; among which the whales and whirlpools, called "balaenae," take up in length as much as four . . . arpents of land. Holland.

 

© Webster 1913.