whim

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A fanciful impulse, or sudden change of idea.

   “Let ev’ry Man enjoy his whim; / What’s He to Me, or I to him?”

   ““No, it is not for a wager; it is a whim of mine, which I fancy from the tone of your conversation you could understand, being apparently somewhat whimsical yourself.” “So far as whim goes, be assured of my sympathy.””

   “The king was tired of this whim of hers long ago, and thought she ought to get married like other people; there was nothing she need wait for, she was old enough and she would not be any richer either, for she was to have half the kingdom, which she inherited after her mother.”

   “[…]the unholy stone whereon Tess had been compelled by Alec d’Urberville, in his whim of reformation, to swear the strange oath that she would never wilfully tempt him again.”

   “[…]“I am sorry to make you the victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply can’t leave that case in this condition.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes.
3. A bird, the Eurasian wigeon.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of warm-hot intergalactic medium.

verb

1. (intransitive, rare)To be seized with a whim; to be capricious.