Whelp

Quick meaning: Whelp is a noun meaning (derogatory) An insolent youth; a mere child.

Meaning

(derogatory) An insolent youth; a mere child.

More Meanings

1. One of several wooden strips to prevent wear on a windlass on a clipper-era ship.
2. A tooth on a sprocket wheel (compare sprocket and cog).
3. (ambitransitive, of she-dog, she-wolf, vixen, etc.) To give birth.
4. A young offspring of a various carnivores (canid, ursid, felid, pinniped), especially of a dog or a wolf, the young of a bear or similar mammal (lion, tiger, seal); a pup, wolf cub.
5. Alternative form of welp (“well”).
6. (obsolete) A kind of ship.

Example Sentences

The bitch whelped.

The she-wolf whelped a large litter of cubs.

[…]And fared like a furious wyld Beare, / Whose whelpes are ſtolne away, ſhe being otherwhere.

July 13, 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian That awkward whelp with his money bags would have made his entrance.

Word Forms

• whelps
• whelping
• whelped

Synonyms for whelp

Depending on context, synonyms include pup.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include pup, puppy, doggy, runt, belligerent, will.

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