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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Whirlwind \Whirl"wind'\, noun [Cf. Icel. hvirfilvindr, Sw. hvirfvelvind, Dan. hvirvelvind, G. wirbelwind. See {Whirl}, and {Wind}, noun]
1. A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion.
The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods. And drowns the villages. --Bryant.
Note: Some meteorologists apply the word whirlwind to the larger rotary storm also, such as cyclones.
2. Fig.: A body of objects sweeping violently onward. ''The whirlwind of hounds and hunters.'' --Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
whirlwind
noun: a more or less vertical column of air whirling around itself as it moves over the surface of the Earth
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
58 Moby Thesaurus words for "whirlwind": Charybdis, ado, baguio, blaze, burst, bustle, convulsion, cyclone, dizzy round, dust devil, eddy, eruption, explosion, fit, flare-up, flurry, furore, fuss, gale, gurge, gust, gyre, hurricane, irruption, maelstrom, outbreak, outburst, paroxysm, pirouette, pother, rainspout, rat race, reel, rotary storm, round, sand column, sandspout, seizure, spasm, spin, storm, surge, swirl, tempest, tornado, turn, twirl, twister, typhoon, upheaval, vortex, waterspout, wheel, whirl, whirlblast, whirlpool, whirly, wind eddy
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
Whirlwind An early computer from the {MIT Research Laboratory for Electronics}. Whirlwind used {electrostatic memory} and ran {Laning and Zierler} (1953); and {ALGEBRAIC}, {COMPREHENSIVE} and {SUMMER SESSION} (all 1959). [Details, reference?] (2002-06-03)
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