How to Use whir in a Sentence

whir

1 of 2 verb

• The lights went down, the projector whirred and then . . .
  — John Kelly, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2019
• The mixer whirs to life and stirs for five minutes or so.
  — David Jesse, Detroit Free Press, 23 Dec. 2017
• Huge fans whir on the ceiling and smaller ones are clamped to each rack.
  — Lina Zeldovich, Popular Mechanics, 2 June 2016
• The shutters are opened up to let in the air, fans start whirring and a dancer takes a break to dab her forehead.
  — Kate Siber, USA TODAY, 25 Sep. 2017
• Tires whirred across the courts as players volley the tennis ball across the net.
  — Patricia Dillon, Houston Chronicle, 27 Jan. 2018
• Allow to freeze until solid, then whir the cubes in a blender.
  — Outside Online, 22 Aug. 2018
• The car is far from road-ready: there’s a clumsy spinning radar on the roof and a trunk full of whirring gadgetry.
  — Time, 18 Jan. 2018
• At around 80 mph, though, noise from the motors can whir its way into the cabin.
  — Jonathon Ramsey, Car and Driver, 21 June 2022
• Try whirring your greens up with some frozen berries and almond or coconut milk.
  — Cindy Sutter, The Denver Post, 1 Mar. 2017
• The meat grinder whirred to life as Dieudonne Kazzembe fed chunks of raw beef into the metal pan on top of the machine.
  — Rebecca Tan, Washington Post, 16 June 2019
• Trump abuses his power in ways that must have the founders whirring like turbines in their graves.
  — Eugene Robinson, The Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2019
• The sound of a helicopter constantly whirred in my ears and tear gas burned in my throat.
  — Wes Gobar, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2017
• For an hour each day, air conditioners and fans whir to a stop.
  — Heba Farouk Mahfouz, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
• The wires whir and howl, and the waves crash into the vessel’s hull, pushing William uncomfortably close to the stern edge of the boat.
  — Matthew Bremner, Slate Magazine, 24 July 2017
• Some make a steady clicking or whirring sound, which can be annoying — most often to the adults in the house.
  — Jessica Hartshorn, goodhousekeeping.com, 4 Apr. 2023
• But the reason the machine can whir away in her lab has less to do with science than with softball.
  — Eliza Fawcett, chicagotribune.com, 5 July 2019
• Beat the egg with the ice water and pour it into the bowl in three additions, whirring after each one.
  — Dorrie Greenspan, The Denver Post, 18 Apr. 2017
• A giant fermenting tank clanged and whirred behind her, and the air hung heavy with the smell of coconut.
  — Alejandra Borunda, Bon Appetit, 15 May 2017
• It’s Olympics time again, and soon some of the world’s best athletes will be schussing down the slopes, whirring through the air, zooming down the tracks and skating across the ice.
  — The New York Times, Houston Chronicle, 6 Feb. 2018
• The saw had bucked and gotten just squirrelly enough to whir through the web of Baker’s off hand and deep into the bone of his thumb.
  — Will Brantley, Field & Stream, 19 Mar. 2020
• Off to the side of a spacious warehouse room whirring with sounds and people moving about stands a door, which boasts a small pink sign.
  — Andrew Henderson, The Courier-Journal, 9 Aug. 2017
• Before the family entered the room, the machine had been turned on and now made a giant, whirring sound that filled the space.
  — Maggie Jones, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2019
• The race got off to a frenetic start, as the bikes whirred off the line in front of a curious Sachsenring crowd.
  — Jonathan Hawkins, CNN, 8 July 2019
• My small turboprop plane whirred low through thick clouds.
  — WIRED, 15 July 2023
• Whether dancing chest to chest or obliquely angled, Godoy and Lugones whip across the floor, legs whirring like blades on a fan.
  — Thea Singer, Scientific American, 23 July 2017
• Small groups of neighbors gathered in front of their homes as a panoramic crime scene camera whirred in the background.
  — Michael Democker, NOLA.com, 21 Oct. 2017
• But the train whirred, caught and deposited us at the preceding station.
  — Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 2020
• For the first season and the beginning of the second, her love life is something that whirs in the background, while work and daughters and self come first.
  — Allison P. Davis, The Cut, 6 Oct. 2017
• Females arrive, and the air gets thick with whirring dragonflies.
  — Sandhya Sekar, National Geographic, 1 May 2017
• Females arrive, and the air gets thick with whirring dragonflies.
  — Sandhya Sekar, National Geographic, 1 May 2017

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whir

2 of 2 noun

• The drone took off with a whir and flew to the far side of the basin.
  — Anna Canny, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Aug. 2023
• For Taurasi, the mouth goes, the mind whirs, no filter.
  — Mike Anthony, courant.com, 12 July 2019
• The room was silent but for the whir of the machinery and the slow scrape of the stylus.
  — Amit Katwala, WIRED, 2 Mar. 2023
• The blender whirs, the sour mix splooshes and Roberto’s your tío.
  — M. Carrie Allan, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
• These whir in the air and pummel the ground and catch the light like helicopter blades.
  — Brian Seibert, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2020
• The only noise was the dull whir of the new air filtration system at the front of the room.
  — Star Tribune, 8 Sep. 2020
• The whir of cars passing the homestead can be heard on the wraparound front porch.
  — Vincent T. Davis, San Antonio Express-News, 24 Apr. 2022
• Sloan powers up the toy and watches as the motor starts to whir.
  — Lux Alptraum, Wired, 16 Oct. 2020
• But down in the living room was just the whir of the record, spinning past the last song, the needle arm retired to the side.
  — Rebecca Makkai, chicagotribune.com, 21 May 2018
• The whir of the wind could be heard gusting after the tornado moved out of sight.
  — Audrey McNamara, CBS News, 3 Mar. 2020
• The click and whir of the camera are the first notes in Jovan Ajder’s evocative sound design.
  — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 May 2022
• For his wife, the bigger problem was the never-ending whir of the chiller pumps.
  — Cade Metz, New York Times, 20 Oct. 2020
• Around me, the quiet is broken only by the whir of the cable car engine and the trilling of birds.
  — New York Times, 12 May 2022
• The office building was locked — just me and the janitors and the whir of the autoclave.
  — New York Times, 26 Apr. 2022
• At night, the faintest whir of helicopter blades would jolt her from bed; wounded were on the way.
  — Jim Rendon, Marie Claire, 29 Oct. 2018
• The whir of an electric mixer and the whispering of your name, with no one else around.
  — Teri Webster, Dallas News, 28 Oct. 2020
• Listen to the chirps, whirs and flutter of the creatures that still stir and witness the night-blooming plants.
  — Sonja Haller, azcentral, 28 June 2018
• But a bicycle makes no noise apart from the whir of its crankshaft and the chu-chunk of its derailleurs.
  — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 31 Aug. 2022
• The time has come for the smell of funnel cakes and the whir of amusement park rides in Marion County.
  — Chris Sims, Indianapolis Star, 15 June 2018
• It’s the gentle whir of the blades on my manual lawn mower.
  — John Kelly, Washington Post, 3 July 2022
• Heat lingers on the pavement as machines begin to whir.
  — Lexi Pandell, Wired, 20 Nov. 2020
• The whir of passing cars replaces the raucous crowd on gamedays.
  — Matthew Defranks, Sun-Sentinel.com, 11 Sep. 2017
• Instead, the whir of wings breaks the silence as a great blue heron suddenly descends to perch on the boat’s bow.
  — Brian J. Cantwell, The Seattle Times, 6 Sep. 2017
• On July 10, a helicopter’s lights shone down on the town of Mae Sai, its whir breaking through the night sky.
  — Shibani Mahtani, Washington Post, 13 July 2018
• Place bread chunks in a food processor and whir into crumbs.
  — Beth Dooley Special To The Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 14 Apr. 2021
• The whir of helicopter blades and the rattle of hand saws has been a constant on Bill Williams Mountain this fall.
  — Anton L. Delgado, The Arizona Republic, 10 Dec. 2020
• For one person, the gentle whir of a steam cleaner might be soothing.
  — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 22 Aug. 2022
• There’s a thud and a clink and with a whir — really more of a purring sound — the floor of Steinmetz Hall springs into action.
  — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 10 Jan. 2022
• The whir of the engine thrums, a constant reverberation felt in the teeth.
  — New York Times, 24 Apr. 2021
• In an empty room with four gray walls, black projectors near the ceiling whir to life.
  — Dallas News, 29 Aug. 2022

Last Updated: 28 May 2024