whim shaft (hwimshaft)

In mining, a shaft at which there is a whim for hoisting the ore. In shallow mines and in regions where fuel is very scarce (as in Mexico) most of the hoisting is done by horse-power and the use of the whim: called in Derby shire, England, where this mode of raising the ore was formerly almost exclusively used, a horse - engine shaft. See cut under whim1. whimsical (hwim'zi-kal), a. [ There is another circumstance in which I am particular, or, as my neighbors call me, whimsical : as my garden in vites into it all the birds,.. I do not suffer any one to Add is on , Spectator, No. 477. destroy their nests. How humoursome, how whimsical soever we may appear, there's one fixed principle that runs through almost the whole race of us. Vanbrugh, Æsop, V. i. 2. Odd; fantastic. In one of the chambers is a whimsical chayre, which folded into so many varieties as to turn into a bed, a bolster, a table, or a couch. Evelyn , Diary, Nov. 29, 1644. The gentry now dispersed, the whimsical misfortune which had befallen the gens d'armerie of Tillietudlem Jewels, and plate, and fooleries molest me; To have a man's brains whimsied with his wealth! Fletcher, Rule a Wife, ii. 2