Whirlpool \Whirl"pool`\, n.

1. An eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a depression or cavity in the center, into which floating objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or the like.

2. A sea monster of the whale kind. [Obs.]

--Spenser.

The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest fishes that are; among which the whales and whirlpools, called ``bal[ae]n[ae],'' take up in length as much as four . . . arpents of land. --Holland.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)