whisker: Meaning and Definition of

whisk•er

Pronunciation: (hwis'kur, wis'-), [key]
— n.
  1. a beard.
  2. Usually,See
  3. a single hair of the beard.
  4. a mustache.
  5. one of the long, stiff, bristly hairs growing about the mouth of certain animals, as the cat or rat; vibrissa.
  6. Also calledany spar for extending the clew or clews of a sail so that it can catch more wind.
  7. See
  8. a thin filament of a crystal, usually several millimeters long and one to two microns in diameter, having unusually great strength.
  9. by the narrowest margin: She won the race by a whisker.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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