Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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 : WordNet®

whirlpool
     n : a powerful circular current of water (usually the resulting
         of conflicting tides) [syn: {vortex}, {maelstrom}]
     v : flow in a circular current, of liquids [syn: {eddy}, {purl},
          {swirl}, {whirl}]