The Collaborative International Dictionary
Antenna \An*ten"na\, n.; pl. Antenn[ae]. [L. antenna sail-yard; NL., a feeler, horn of an insect.]
(Zo["o]l.) A movable, articulated organ of sensation, attached to the heads of insects and Crustacea. There are two in the former, and usually four in the latter. They are used as organs of touch, and in some species of Crustacea the cavity of the ear is situated near the basal joint. In insects, they are popularly called horns, and also feelers. The term in also applied to similar organs on the heads of other arthropods and of annelids.
(Electronics) A metallic device, variously shaped, designed for the purpose of either transmitting or receiving radio waves, as for radio or television broadcasting, or for transmitting communication signals. Some types are: whip antenna, antenna tower, horn antenna, dish antenna, directional antenna and rabbit ears. See transmitter, receiver.
Wikipedia
A whip antenna is an antenna consisting of a single straight flexible wire or rod. The bottom end of the whip is connected to the radio receiver or transmitter. They are designed to be flexible so that they do not easily break, and the name is derived from their whip-like motion when disturbed. Whip antennas for portable radios are often made of a series of interlocking telescoping metal tubes, so they can be retracted when not in use. Longer ones made for mounting on vehicles or structures are made of a flexible fiberglass rod surrounding a wire core, and can be up to 35 ft (10 m) long. Whips are the most common type of monopole antenna. These antennas are widely used for hand-held radios such as cell phones, cordless phones, walkie-talkies, FM radios, boom boxes, Wi-Fi enabled devices, and GPS receivers, and also attached to vehicles as the antennas for car radios, as well as two way radios for police, firefighting and aircraft. Larger versions mounted on roofs or radio masts are used as base station antennas for police, fire, ambulance, taxi and other vehicle dispatchers.
Usage examples of "whip antenna".
Four members of Army (later pegged by insignia-savvy DMS as a first lieutenant, a sergeant, and two privates) had ensconced selves on parked Humvee type vehicle w/absurdly long whip antenna clamped to bumper.
He \vas mentally figuring out where he would mount a whip antenna, a dynamotor, a 75-meter converter.
The thing sticking up out of his head is a whip antenna about a foot long.
I looked up at the radio mast next to the hut and then at the whip antenna on the Land-Rover.
Through the shattered back window, against a background of jagged tree branches, K6ATX saw the chromium glint of the radio's center-loaded whip antenna, bolted to the rear bumper but still in place.
One of the huts had a whip antenna on the roof, maybe sixty feet high.
Then he erected a whip antenna and transmitted the imagery to the other three computers the team had brought along.
Lennys Packard had a big whip antenna--Pete used it as a tracking device.
A sudden vision of Gonzalez's big car, with its whip antenna and its two-way radio, flashed through his mind and he wished desperately that that car stood in the red convertible's place.
He saw one hiss by him as he rounded the corner, trailing a short whip antenna that caught the light like a hairline crack in the atmosphere.
The kinky football was replaced by a picture of a teardrop-shaped craft, about the size of an almond, trailing a whip antenna, with an orifice at its nose protected by an incongruously beautiful iris.
It was too far away to see the license plate, but it was the right color and it had the whip antenna and that was definitely somebody in a chauffeur's cap at the wheel.
A cabinet the size of a quart milk container would be easy to conceal, but not an eight-foot whip antenna.