whirligig

whirligig pronunciation

/WER-lee-gig/

Meaning

A whirligig is anything that spins for fun: a button on a twisted string, a wooden soldier whose arms turn in the breeze, a buzz disk kids still make in the mountains. On Southern farms and Appalachian craft tables it also means those painted wind toys stuck on a post by the garden. Folks use it for a fidgety person too, somebody spinning in circles and getting nowhere.

How folks use it

• “Granddaddy carved a whirligig that chopped wood when the wind blew.”
• “Quit running around like a whirligig and help load the truck.”

Origin and etymology

Middle English whirlegigg, from whirl plus gig (a spinning top). English used it for spinning toys early on. Wind-driven yard whirligigs became American folk craft, with a lot of later making centered in the southern Appalachians through the Depression. Button and gee-haw whirligigs stayed common mountain kid toys.