wisp Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a small tuft or lock
    • wisps of hair
  2. noun a small person
    • a mere wisp of a girl
  3. noun a small bundle of straw or hay
  4. noun a flock of snipe

WordNet

Wisp noun
Etymology
OE. wisp, wips; probably akin to D. & G. wisch, Icel. visk, and perhaps to L. virga a twig, rod. Cf. Verge a rod, Whisk, n.
Definitions
  1. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance.
    In a small basket, on a wisp of hay. Dryden.
  2. A whisk, or small broom.
  3. A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus.
    The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread. Tennyson.
Wisp transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Wisped ; present participle & verbal noun Wisping
Definitions
  1. To brush or dress, an with a wisp.
  2. To rumple. Prov. Eng. Halliwell.

Webster 1913