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   Whorl

   /(h)wôrl/

   

   noun

   • 1. a pattern of spirals or concentric circles: "Shelley drew larger and larger dark whorls on her notepad"
   • ▪ each of the turns or convolutions in the shell of a gastropod or ammonoid mollusk.
   • ▪ a set of leaves, flowers, or branches springing from the stem at the same level and encircling it.
   • ▪ (in a flower) each of the sets of organs, especially the petals and sepals, arranged concentrically around the receptacle.
   • ▪ a complete circle in a fingerprint.
   • 2. a small wheel or pulley in a spinning wheel, spinning machine, or spindle. historical

   verb

   • 1. spiral or move in a twisted and convoluted fashion: literary "the dances are kinetic kaleidoscopes where steps whorl into wildness"

   Word Origin late Middle English (denoting a small flywheel): apparently a variant of whirl, influenced by Old English wharve ‘whorl of a spindle’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. whorled adjective

   Scrabble Points: 11

   • W

     4

   • H

     4

   • O

     1

   • R

     1

   • L

     1

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