Whif"fler (?), n.
1. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his
opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a
trifler.
Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the
chocolate house shall talk of the constitution.
Swift.
2. One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or
piper. [Obs.]
3. An officer who went before procession to clear
the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at
the head of a procession; a harbinger.
Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king,
Seems to prepare his way.
Shak.
&fist; "Whifflers, or fifers, generally went first in a
procession, from which circumstance the name was transferred to other
persons who succeeded to that office, and at length was given to those who
went forward merely to clear the way for the procession. . . . In the city
of London, young freemen, who march at the head of their proper companies
on the Lord Mayor's day, sometimes with flags, were called
whifflers, or bachelor whifflers, not because they cleared
the way, but because they went first, as whifflers did."
Nares.
4. (Zoöl) The golden-eye.
[Local, U. S.]
Whif"fler (?), n.
1. One who whiffles, or frequently changes his
opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a
trifler.
Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the
chocolate house shall talk of the constitution.
Swift.
2. One who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or
piper. [Obs.]
3. An officer who went before procession to clear
the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at
the head of a procession; a harbinger.
Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king,
Seems to prepare his way.
Shak.
&fist; "Whifflers, or fifers, generally went first in a
procession, from which circumstance the name was transferred to other
persons who succeeded to that office, and at length was given to those who
went forward merely to clear the way for the procession. . . . In the city
of London, young freemen, who march at the head of their proper companies
on the Lord Mayor's day, sometimes with flags, were called
whifflers, or bachelor whifflers, not because they cleared
the way, but because they went first, as whifflers did."
Nares.
4. (Zoöl) The golden-eye.
[Local, U. S.]
