MEANING
1. To move, take, or remove someone or something with quick, light motion.
2. To beat food rapidly to mix it or add air, or the wire tool used for this.
3. A small brush used for sweeping dust away, or a quick, light brushing movement.
Use it for
showing a person suddenly taken out of a scene; describing a light swift removal; contrasting quick movement with heavy effortConveys swift, light removal or motion, distinct from forceful dragging; kitchen and small-brush senses remain separate. Writing functions: Quick Movement.
Words that belong together
- whisk someone away
- whisk a cloth off
- whisk through the doorway
On the page
She whisked the letter beneath the ledger before he reached the desk.
A draught whisked the loose receipt through the doorway.
She whisked the eggs while the unopened envelope lay beside the bowl.
He set the whisk down carefully, as though the slightest noise might wake the house.
The caretaker used a whisk broom to clear dust from the upholstery.
Word forms
- Base
- whisk
- Past tense
- whisked
- Past participle
- whisked
- Present participle
- whisking
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- whisk
- Present continuous
- am/is/are whisking
- Present perfect
- have/has whisked
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been whisking
- Past
- whisked
- Past continuous
- was/were whisking
- Past perfect
- had whisked
- Past perfect continuous
- had been whisking
- Future
- will whisk
- Future continuous
- will be whisking
- Future perfect
- will have whisked
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been whisking
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Verb and count noun. Whisks, whisked, whisked, whisking; future will whisk. Rapid movement often takes away, off, or through. Noun plural whisks. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.