whiffler
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An officer who went before a procession to clear the way, by blowing a horn or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "Every Whiffler in a Laced Coat, who frequents the Chocolate-Houſe, and is able to ſpell the Title of a Pamphlet, ſhall Talk of the Conſtitution with as much Plauſibility as this very Solemn Writer, and with as good a Grace blame the Clergy for medling with Politicks which they do not underſtand."
- "[...] Men, Wiues and Boyes, / Whoſe ſhouts & claps out-voyce the deep-mouth'd Sea, / Which like a mightie Whiffler 'fore the King, / Seems to prepare his way: [...]"
- "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."
Etymology
From whiffle + -er.