What is "whim"

Whim \Whim\, v. i. To be subject to, or indulge in, whims; to be whimsical, giddy, or freakish. [R.]
--Congreve.

Whim \Whim\, n. [Cf. Whimbrel.] (Zo["o]l.) The European widgeon. [Prov. Eng.]

Whim \Whim\, n. [Cf. Icel. hwima to wander with the eyes, vim giddiness, Norw. kvima to whisk or flutter about, to trifle, Dan. vimse to skip, whisk, jump from one thing to another, dial. Sw. hvimsa to be unsteady, dizzy, W. chwimio to move briskly.]

1. A sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice.

   Let every man enjoy his whim.
   --Churchill.

2. (Mining) A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes; -- called also whim gin, and whimsey.

   Whim gin (Mining), a whim. See Whim, 2.

   Whim shaft (Mining), a shaft through which ore, water, etc., is raised from a mine by means of a whim.

   Syn: Freak; caprice; whimsey; fancy.

   Usage: Whim, Freak, Caprice. Freak denotes an impulsive, inconsiderate change of mind, as by a child or a lunatic. Whim is a mental eccentricity due to peculiar processes or habits of thought. Caprice is closely allied in meaning to freak, but implies more definitely a quality of willfulness or wantonness.

1640s, "play on words, pun," shortened from whimwham "fanciful object" (q.v.). Meaning "caprice, fancy, sudden turn or inclination of the mind" first recorded 1690s, probably a shortened form of whimsy.

Etymology 1 n. 1 A fanciful impulse, or whimsical idea 2 (context mining English) A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mine, or for other purposes Etymology 2

n. A bird, the Eurasian wigeon.

1. n. a sudden desire; "he bought it on an impulse" [syn: caprice, impulse]

2. an odd or fanciful or capricious idea; "the theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories"; "he had a whimsy about flying to the moon"; "whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy it" [syn: notion, whimsy, whimsey]

WHIM may refer to:

• The Warm–hot intergalactic medium in astrophysics
• WHIM syndrome, Wart, Hypogammaglobulinemia, Infection, and Myelokathexis syndrome

• WHIM (AM), a radio station (1080 AM) licensed to Coral Gables, Florida, United States.
• WHIM (defunct), a defunct radio station (1110 AM) licensed to East Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
• Former callsign (1947–92, 1993–95) of WPMZ, a radio station (1110 AM) licensed to East Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
• Former callsign (1995–98) of WLKW, a radio station (1450 AM) licensed to West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States.

WHIM (known on-air as "WHIM Country") was a country music radio station in the Providence, Rhode Island market.

WHIM (1080 AM) is a Christian radio station licensed to Coral Gables, USA, serving the Miami area. The station is currently owned by Caron Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Salem Communications. The station is the South Florida home to Florida State Seminoles basketball broadcasts.

WVCG (the "Voice of Coral Gables"), was originally on 1070, and was Miami's first all- Classical music station. The station upgraded its power to 50,000 watts in the 1960s and moved up the dial to 1080. Following a series of format changes, to Middle-of-the-Road, a brief stint as Oldies, and then two decades as a time brokered multi-ethnic station (mostly under the ownership of Scott Ginsburg), the station switched to a Talk format geared to African-Americans in 2006 under Radio One, and abandoned its legacy call letters in favor of WTPS ("The Peoples' Station"). Legendary Miami disc jockey James T. was the morning host for a brief period during this time. The station was then purchased from Radio One, its former owner, by Salem Communications and assigned to its Caron Broadcasting Subsidiary. The transaction was completed on April 11, 2008.1 Under Salem, the station adopted a Christian format and the WMCU calls, both formerly associated with 89.7 FM, now a K-LOVE station, WMLV.

On April 1, 2010, the station changed its callsign to its current WHIM and now broadcasts English-language Christian talk programming 14 hours a day, Spanish-language Christian talk 3 hours a day and Haitian Creole programming 7 hours overnight. On June 1, 2010 WHIM began its signature program, "Sound Word Live" from 1 to 3 p.m. daily, hosted by Frank Trotta and co-hosted by Dave Mitchell, Steve James and Bernie Diaz.

In 2011, WHIM entered an agreement with WAXY to carry the games of the Miami Heat (basketball) or Florida Marlins, now the Miami Marlins, (baseball) when both teams play at the same time. WHIM aired a Heat regular season game on April 6 of that year and carried several Marlins games during the NBA playoffs. It has also been announced that WHIM will now be the full time broadcaster of Florida International University Golden Panther Football.

A whim, also called a whim gin or a horse capstan, is a device similar to a windlass used in mining for hauling materials to the surface. It comprises a capstan or a wide drum with a vertical axle. A rope is wound around the drum, with both ends traversing several pulleys and hanging down the mine shaft. As the drum is turned around, one end of the rope is lowered, carrying an empty bucket, while the other one is raised, carrying a full load.

The major benefit from using a whim is that the whim's operation can be performed at a distance from the shaft, thus resolving some of the congestion. Early whims were horse-powered, but later they were powered by waterwheels or steam engines, including the most advanced Cornish engines. Whims were used in coal mines until the end of the nineteenth century.

Horse whims were also used to power team boats.