whisker

Plural: whiskers

Noun

• A stiff hair on an animal's face; a beard hair.
• a very small distance or space
  • "they lost the election by a whisker"
• a long stiff hair growing from the snout or brow of most mammals as e.g. a cat
• That part of the beard which grows upon the sides of the face, usually of the male, or upon the chin, or upon both.
• A hair of the beard.
• One of the long, projecting hairs growing at the sides of the mouth of a cat, or other animal.
• The (very small) distance between two things.
• Spreaders from the bows to spread the bowsprit shrouds.
• A graphic element that shows the maxima and minima in a box plot.
• One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
• A small tendril that forms on metal.

Verb

• furnish with whiskers
  • "a whiskered jersey"

Examples

• His seven-letter word just barely beat his opponent’s by a whisker of points.
• It missed falling on your foot by a whisker.

Synonyms

bewhisker, hair, hair's-breadth, hairsbreadth, sensory hair, vibrissa

Related Words

WHISKERY