wisp

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance; a twisted handful of something; any slender, flexible structure or group.

   “A wisp of hair escaped her barrette and whipped wildly in the wind.”

   “a wisp of a child”

   “in a small basket, on a wisp of hay”

2. (countable, uncountable)A small, thin line of cloud, smoke, or steam.

   “A wisp of smoke rose from the candle for a few moments after he blew it out.”

   “Across the country a wisp of smoke showed, then gunyahs, and in a moment more we were right in the bush camp.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A whisk, or small broom.
4. (countable, uncountable)A will o' the wisp, or ignis fatuus.

   “the wisp that flickers where no foot can tread”

5. (countable, uncountable)An immeasurable, indefinable essence of life; soul.

   ““She would get nothing from him, she saw, resentfully. Then some angel of grace lent her a few wisps, which she grasped.”

   “Apparently it had been too much; for his sleep, though deep as death itself, was not dreamless this time, but threaded with ghostly wisps of dreams.”

   “He was a wisp of spirit — all his substance, the meat of his being, the coat of flesh that had always slowed him, had long since slipped away. He knew he was in two places.”

   “The morning we stood on Monte de Gozo,and saw the cathedral spires as though floating in the distance, the sun was already making its ascent into the pale sky. It was difficult for me to accept that our journey was nearly over. Santiago had grown into much more than a destiny in my mind; it was the culmination of all that it meant to be human, and I feared that my spirit, no more than a wisp on this earth, would evaporate when the clouds decided to part.”

   “We entered the shed. The thick density of the smoke made it nigh impossible to distinguish anyone. It was like seeing wisps of spirits trailing IVs, shrouded bodies on the precipice of a low-key volcano.”

6. (archaic, countable, uncountable)A flock of snipe.

   “They shift their quarters in the early part of the season very suddenly, and if a man hears of a wisp of snipe in any particular place, he must be off at once.”

   “A flock of snipe is given the collective name of a "wisp", perhaps due to its rapid twisting and turning before the birds drop down again.”

7. (uncountable)A disease affecting the feet of cattle.
8. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of wireless internet service provider.

verb

1. (transitive)To brush or dress, as with a wisp.

   “The very same head of hair, wisp'd, and matted together, would make the most disagreeable figure.”

2. (UK, dialectal, obsolete)To rumple.
3. (intransitive)To produce a wisp, as of smoke.

   “To Temple, sitting in the cottonseed-hulls and the corn-cobs, the sound was no louder than the striking of a match: a short, minor sound shutting down the scene, the instant, with a profound finality, completely isolating it, and she sat there, her legs straight before her, her hands limp and palm-up on her lap, looking at Popeye's tight back and the ridges of his coat across his shoulders as he leaned out the door, the pistol behind him, against his flank, wisping thinly along his leg.”

4. (transitive)To emit in wisps.

   “It looked warm and rosy-bright inside, with a little chimney wisping smoke, little windows glowing.”