Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Whelp

Whelp (hwĕlp), n. [AS. hwelp; akin to D. welp, G. & OHG. welf, Icel. hvelpr, Dan. hvalp, Sw. valp.]

1. One of the young of a dog or a beast of prey; a puppy; a cub; as, a lion's whelps. "A bear robbed of her whelps." 2 Sam. xvii. 8.

2. A child; a youth; — jocosely or in contempt.

That awkward whelp with his money bags would have made his entrance. Addison.

3. (Naut.) One of the longitudinal ribs or ridges on the barrel of a capstan or a windless; — usually in the plural; as, the whelps of a windlass.

4. One of the teeth of a sprocket wheel.

Whelp, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Whelped; p. pr. & vb. n. Whelping.] To bring forth young; — said of the female of the dog and some beasts of prey.

Whelp, v. t. To bring forth, as cubs or young; to give birth to.

Unless she had whelped it herself, she could not have loved a thing better. B. Jonson.

Did thy foul fancy whelp so black a scheme? Young.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.