from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. Any of the long stiff hairs that project from the snout or brow of most mammals, as the whiskers of a cat.
- n. One of several long modified feathers that grow along the gape of the mouth of insect-eating birds.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Any of the tactile whiskers on the nose of an animal such as a cat
- n. Any similar feather near the mouth of some birds
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. One of the specialized or tactile hairs which grow about the nostrils, or on other parts of the face, in many animals, as the so-called whiskers of the cat, and the hairs of the nostrils of man.
- n. The bristlelike feathers near the mouth of many birds.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In mammalogy, one of the long, stiff bristles which grow upon the upper lip and elsewhere upon the head of most mammals; a whisker, as of a cat.
- In ornithology, a rictal bristle; one of the special set of long, slender, bristle-like or bristly feathers, devoid of vexilla proper, which grow in a series along each side of the rictus or gape of the mouth of many birds, as flycatchers, goatsuckers, and others.
- In human anatomy, one of the hairs which grow in the nostrils.
- In entomology, one of the projecting lateral bristles on the upper border of the peristomium or mouth-cavity of certain Diptera.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a long stiff hair growing from the snout or brow of most mammals as e.g. a cat
Each facial vibrissa is linked with 50 to 200 nerve fibers.
On its way to the food-box, no matter whether the box be slightly or strikingly different from its companion box, the dancer may go by way of the wrong box, may take a few turns, cut some figure-eights, or even spin like a top for seconds almost within vibrissa-reach of the food-box, and all this even though it be very hungry.
Accents and grinding stones is hand carved Pink Sapphire, Emerald, subtly hidden shell, from a marine's dazzling diamond vibrissa hug.