twirl vs whorl

twirl

noun
  • A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette. 

  • A little twist of some substance; a swirl. 

  • Any rotating movement; a spin. 

  • A prison guard. 

verb
  • To twist round. 

  • To pitch. 

  • To rotate rapidly. 

  • To perform a twirl. 

whorl

noun
  • A flywheel, a weight attached to a spindle. 

  • A circle of three or more leaves, flowers, or other organs, about the same part or joint of a stem. 

  • A volution, or turn, of the spire of a univalve shell. 

  • Any volution, as for example in the human ear or fingerprint. 

  • Each circle, volution or equivalent in a pattern of concentric circles, ovals, arcs, or a spiral. 

verb
  • To form a pattern of concentric circles. 

How often have the words twirl and whorl occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )