Find the word definition

Crossword clues for whelp

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
whelp
I.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Shall a traitor's whelp get the better of us?
▪ She let out a soft whelp as she closed her eyes then popped them open and stared mutely into the berries.
II.verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Members are able to fill in a form to notify the Club that a litter is due to be whelped.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Whelp

Whelp \Whelp\, n. [AS. hwelp; akin to D. welp, G. & OHG. welf, Icel. hvelpr, Dan. hvalp, Sw. valp.]

  1. One of the young of a dog or a beast of prey; a puppy; a cub; as, a lion's whelps. ``A bear robbed of her whelps.''
    --2 Sam. xvii. 8.

  2. A child; a youth; -- jocosely or in contempt.

    That awkward whelp with his money bags would have made his entrance.
    --Addison.

  3. (Naut.) One of the longitudinal ribs or ridges on the barrel of a capstan or a windless; -- usually in the plural; as, the whelps of a windlass.

  4. One of the teeth of a sprocket wheel.

Whelp

Whelp \Whelp\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Whelped; p. pr. & vb. n. Whelping.] To bring forth young; -- said of the female of the dog and some beasts of prey.

Whelp

Whelp \Whelp\, v. t. To bring forth, as cubs or young; to give birth to.

Unless she had whelped it herself, she could not have loved a thing better.
--B. Jonson.

Did thy foul fancy whelp so black a scheme?
--Young.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
whelp

Old English hwelp "whelp, young of the dog," from a Germanic root related to Old Saxon hwelp, Old Norse hvelpr, Dutch welp, German hwelf; of unknown origin. Now largely displaced by puppy. Also applied to wild animals. Sense of "scamp" first recorded early 14c.

whelp

c.1200, from whelp (n.). Related: Whelped; whelping.

Wiktionary
whelp

n. 1 A young offspring of a canid (ursid, felid, pinniped), especially of a dog or a wolf, the young of a bear or similar mammal (lion, tiger, seal); a pup, wolf cub. 2 (context derogatory English) An insolent youth; a mere child. 3 (context obsolete English) A kind of ship. 4 One of several wooden strips to prevent wear on a windlass on a clipper-era ship. 5 A tooth on a sprocket (compare sprocket, def. 2; cog, def. 1). vb. (context ambitransitive English) (context of she-dog, she-wolf, vixen, etc. English) To give birth.

WordNet
whelp
  1. n. young of any of various canines such as a dog or wolf [syn: pup]

  2. v. birth; "the dog whelped" [syn: pup]

Wikipedia
Whelp

Whelp may refer to:

  • Whelping, the birthing of carnivorous mammals
    • any young, carnivorous mammal; most commonly a puppy
  • Whelp (tidal bore) in an undular bore: the train of secondary waves behind the bore front
  • HMS Whelp: the name of one ship of the Royal Navy and of another which was planned but cancelled

Usage examples of "whelp".

Since it was already early evening, the warriors had left the armory, but the large cavern was still full of whelps and boys, cleaning up, repairing leathers and harnesses, or raking the sand that covered the floor.

A multitude of whelps came forth from the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call them, that is, in there ships of war, with their sails wafted by the wind and with omens and prophecies favourable, for it was foretold by a certain soothsayer among them, that they should occupy the country to which they were sailing three hundred years, and half of that time, a hundred and fifty years, should plunder and despoil the same.

Mum, learning at her knee about whelping and worming, infections, dysplasia, mites and ticks.

He went quickly to the other bedroom where he slept, and where Goldilocks sat in her upscale whelping box.

The slender whelp had been slashed during the last determined charge of a keld Volf had finally brought down.

My mother whelped me in a mess of blankets while my noctivagant father towed in the big ships.

Quien Sabe that can throw me, nor the dog whelped that would dare show his teeth at me.

Opposite the door, upon a flame-encompassed throne sat the Evil One with the lost archangels around him, seated on benches of terrible fire, according to the rank they formerly bore in the region of light - the lovely whelps - it would only be a waste of words to attempt to describe how atrociously ugly they were, and the longer I gazed upon them, sevenfold more frightful did they become.

They had come to the Material Plane together, two barghest whelps, to eat and grow.

The human village had provided easy pickings for the barghest whelps and might continue to do so for some time if Ulgulu and Kempfana were careful about their attacks.

The behemoth forgot the still figure, realizing now that he still had a chance to avenge himself on living, fragile creatures, most especially the mate of the Bedlam whelp.

Though he would not have known how to put this thought into words, there were times when Boone Markland felt like a rough old lion who had whelped a pride of black panthers.

As he slashed with his shette, clearing the way for his whelps, the sharp scent of fern cut through the odor of decaying vegetation.

Instinctively Bart lunged around the huge trunk of the Bulbata and crashed into another whelp who had dived for safety from the other side.

He watched Dyfid and Guntor cluster around Bart, while the other whelp, Mariko, hung around them.