whisker - Dictionary definition and pronunciation - Yahoo! Education
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whisk·er  audio  (hwskr, ws-) KEY 

NOUN:
    1. whiskers The hair on a man's cheeks and chin.
    2. A single hair of a beard or mustache.
  2. One of the long stiff tactile bristles or hairs that grow near the mouth and elsewhere on the head of most mammals; a vibrissa.
  3. Informal A narrow margin; a hairsbreadth: The candidate lost the election by a whisker.
  4. Nautical One of two spars or booms projecting from the side of a bowsprit for spreading the jib or flying-jib guys.
  5. Chemistry An extremely fine filamentary crystal with extraordinary shear strength and unusual electrical or surface properties.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English wisker, anything that wisks, from wisken, to whisk ; see whisk

OTHER FORMS:
whiskered or whisker·y(Adjective)


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