- [countable] any of the long, stiff hairs that grow near the mouth of a cat, mouse, etc.Topics Animalsc2
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- whiskers[plural] (old-fashioned or humorous) the hair growing on a man’s face, especially on the sides of his face
Word Originlate Middle English (originally denoting a bundle of feathers, twigs, etc., used for whisking): from the verb whisk + -er.
Idioms
See whisker in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybe the cat’s whiskers/pyjamas
- (old-fashioned, informal) to be the best thing, person, idea, etc.
- He thinks he's the cat's whiskers (= he has a high opinion of himself).
be, come, etc. within a whisker of something/doing something
- (informal) to almost do something
- They came within a whisker of being killed.
by a whisker
- (informal) by a very small amount
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whisker