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whim-wham

noun

Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps from North Germanic (compare Old Norse hvima (“to let the eyes wander”), Norwegian kvima (“to flutter”)), but in any case ultimately sound-symbolic/a fanciful reduplication (compare flim-flam).

Definitions

  1. A whimsical object

    A whimsical object; a trinket.

    • They′ll pull ye all to pieces for your Whim-whams, Your Garters and your Gloves,

  2. A whim or fancy.

  3. A state of nervous anxiety.

    • But that wasn't what gave him the whim-whams so bad here. In the clearing, no more than ten feet away, stood a little stone cherub atop a fancy grave marker maybe three feet high.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for whim-wham. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA