| / English Dictionary |
WHISPERING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords
Synonyms:
susurration; voicelessness; whisper; whispering
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("whispering" is a kind of...):
speaking; speech production (the utterance of intelligible speech)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "whispering"):
stage whisper (a loud whisper that can be overheard; on the stage it is heard by the audience but it supposed to be inaudible to the rest of the cast)
Derivation:
whisper (speak softly; in a low voice)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A light noise, like the noise of silk clothing or leaves blowing in the wind
Synonyms:
rustle; rustling; whisper; whispering
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("whispering" is a kind of...):
noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Making a low continuous indistinct sound
Example:
susurrant voices
Synonyms:
murmuring; susurrant; whispering
Classified under:
Similar:
soft ((of sound) relatively low in volume)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb whisper
Context examples:
No sooner had it touched his tongue than he heard a strange whispering of little voices outside his window.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
He’d had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malone! Don't make a public ass of yourself."
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Ruth drew Martin away with her on a pretext; when she had got him aside, whispering:-
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I guessed there was some mischief when I observed my master and his friend whispering together, sometimes pointing at me; and my fears made me fancy that I overheard and understood some of their words.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Last night after tea, when you and mama went out of the room, they were whispering and talking together as fast as could be, and he seemed to be begging something of her, and presently he took up her scissors and cut off a long lock of her hair, for it was all tumbled down her back; and he kissed it, and folded it up in a piece of white paper; and put it into his pocket-book.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I thought he began to look a little queer, so I turned it off as well as I could, by whispering to him, 'We shall have an excellent Agatha; there is something so maternal in her manner, so completely maternal in her voice and countenance.'
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He knows best, meaning Uriah Heep, for he has always been at my elbow, whispering me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Oh! dear, Miss Woodhouse—well, at last, I fancy, he looked round and saw me; for instead of going on with her buyings, they began whispering to one another.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
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