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# whiskers

noun (whiskers — plural; one whisker)

«whiskers» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Whiskers are the long, stiff hairs that grow near the mouth and nose of animals such as cats, dogs, mice and seals, used for feeling things around them. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#m1)
2. Whiskers can also mean the hair growing on a man's face. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#m2)
3. «By a whisker» means by a tiny amount: «we won by a whisker». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science lessons whiskers are a sense adaptation: a cat's whiskers feel tiny movements in the air and help it judge whether it can fit through a gap; seals use whiskers to find fish in murky water. In everyday talk «by a whisker» means only just. In stories, characters may stroke their whiskers when thinking.

### Examples

- The cat's whiskers twitched when it heard the mouse. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x1)
- Cats use their whiskers to feel if they fit through a gap. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x2)
- Seals find fish with their whiskers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x3)
- Grandad's whiskers tickled when he kissed me. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x4)
- We won the race by a whisker. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x5)
- Never cut a cat's whiskers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x6)
- The mouse had long whiskers and a pink nose. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x7)
- The Cat was laughing also, but tried to hide it by stroking his long whiskers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/#x8)

### Note

Usually plural «whiskers»; singular «a whisker». Whiskers are not just decoration — cutting them can confuse an animal. «The cat's whiskers» (old-fashioned slang) means something excellent.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «whiskers» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whiskers/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«whiskers» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/whiskers.html) on Mova free.