refreshing(1) (iou) and whisker (iou)

refreshing(1) (iou)

refreshing adjective. L16.
[formed as REFRESHER + -ING2.]
That refreshes a person or thing physically, mentally, or spiritually; pleasingly fresh or different. L16.
H. Robbins The clean refreshing scent of pine. Ina Taylor It was so refreshing to be able to talk to a woman.
Law. Of a fee: paid as extra to counsel in a prolonged case. E18.
refreshingly adverb E19.
refreshingness noun (rare) M17.

whisker (iou)

whisker noun & verb. LME.
[from WHISK verb + -ER1.]
A. noun.
A thing used for whisking, as a switch, a bundle of feathers, twigs, etc. obsolete exc. dial. LME.
a. In pl. & (arch.) collect. sing. The hair growing on a man's chin, upper lip, and cheeks; orig. (now colloq.), a moustache; now esp., the hair growing on the cheeks or sides of the face alone. LME.
Dickens A shaggy fellow..with a good deal of hair and whisker. S. Leacock This photograph is of a man with whiskers.
b. Orig., a moustache. Now, a patch of hair growing on one cheek or side of a man's face (chiefly in pair of whiskers); any of the hairs growing on a man's chin, upper lip, and cheeks or sides of the face, or on a woman's face. E18.
A. Craig Tim (whose face..was bracketed by a pair of long whiskers).
A large or excessive thing; esp. a big lie. slang. M-L17.
Any of a number of long projecting hairs or bristles growing on the face (esp. on the snout) of many mammals; each of a similar set of feathers around the bill of certain insectivorous birds. Also, moustachial markings on a bird. L17.
b. fig. A very small distance or amount. colloq. E20.
Dressage Review His trot Music..appeared to be just a whisker too slow. Mail on Sunday John Emburey came within a whisker of capturing his..first wicket. Autosport Perkins swept around the outside..to claim victory by a whisker.
c. Electricity. A wire used to form a rectifying contact with the surface of a semiconductor. E20.
Nautical.
a. More fully whisker pole. Either of two spars extending laterally on each side of the bowsprit, for spreading the guys of the jib-boom. M19.
b. A lever for detonating a torpedo. L19.
A single crystal that has grown in a filamentous form a few microns thick, characterized by a lack of dislocations and a tensile strength much greater than the bulk material. M20.
Phrases: cat's whisker: see CAT noun1. grow whiskers (of Food) become mouldy. have whiskers, have grown whiskers (of news, a story, etc.) be very old.
b. verb trans. Provide with whiskers. rare. E19.
whiskerage noun whiskers collectively M19.
whiskerless adjective M19.
whiskery adjective (a) having whiskers; (b) suggestive of or resembling whiskers or a whisker: M19.

Sites

Pest Star