Which preposition to use with whir

of Occurrences 43%

Everywhere there is a whir of wheels, a plash of waves, a din of assembly, as the new combinations take place.

with Occurrences 5%

For, notwithstanding he is often on the wing, he never flies overland, but whirs with, rapid, quail-like beat above the stream, tracing all its windings.

around Occurrences 2%

The steel ball whirred around the rim and bounced down into a red numbered slot.

about Occurrences 2%

The flying foxes shot from tree to tree, and moths as big as sparrows whirred about the trunks, one moment black against the glare beyond, and vanishing the next, like imps of darkness, into their native gloom.

above Occurrences 2%

" A sudden whir above them caused them both to look up.

from Occurrences 2%

" Three weeks later, when the wheels of the local stage were beginning to throw a fine dust, instead of mud, as they whirred from St. Johns to Jason, Bud Shoop received a tiny flat package addressed in an unfamiliar hand.

in Occurrences 2%

Hear the first cracking of the central vertebra; then the mournful, moaning whir in the air; then the tremendous crash upon the green earth; the vibration of the mighty trunk on the ground, like the writhing and tremor of an ox struck by the butcher's axe; the rebound into the air of dismembered branches; the frightened flight of leaves and dust, and all the other distractions of that hour of death and destruction.

over Occurrences 2%

A good many hares and partridges either crossed our path or whirred over our heads.

round Occurrences 2%

As we got into our saddles the humming-birds were whirring round the tree-tops; the Qu'est-ce qu'il dits inquiring the subject of our talk.

through Occurrences 2%

Dry leaves rustled in my path and sent up a faint aromatic breath as they were crushed in the undried dew; squirrels chattered in the wood; here and there a dropping nut stirred the silence with deliberate fall, or an unseen grouse whirred through the birches at my approaching step.

to Occurrences 2%

If disturbed while dipping about in the margin shallows, he either sets off with a rapid whir to some other feeding-ground up or down the stream, or alights on some half-submerged rock or snag out in the current, and immediately begins to nod and courtesy like a wren, turning his head from side to side with many other odd dainty movements that never fail to fix the attention of the observer.

on Occurrences 1%

He gave the cord a quick jerk; a rattle, a wail, and a shriek were successively produced by the notches whirring on the glass.

by Occurrences 1%

A little sand-grouse, known as kata by the Arabs, came whirring by.

among Occurrences 1%

Once a blue jay came and looked at us, and the squirrels whirred among the chestnuts and hickories, and the roadsides were so thickly strewn with fallen nuts that we made but slow progress, stopping all the time to fill our pockets.

past Occurrences 1%

He must have heard those metal-armed hoofs as they whirred past his head.

into Occurrences 1%

He laughed low and soft as the air whirred into his face, and now

like Occurrences 1%

After their belated supper, when Esther Nichols had gone over to a neighbour's, Horace, sitting by his mother's side, out in the honeysuckled porch, where the sphinx moths whirred like humming-birds of night, holding her hands in his, told her all.

before Occurrences 1%

A white ptarmigan now and then flew up with a loud whir before us, uttered a harsh "querk, querk, querk" of affright, and sailing a few rods away, settled upon the snow and suddenly became invisible.

Which preposition to use with  whir