wisp
    n 1: a small tuft or lock; "wisps of hair"
    2: a small person; "a mere wisp of a girl"
    3: a small bundle of straw or hay
    4: a flock of snipe

Wisp \Wisp\, n. [OE. wisp, wips; probably akin to D. & G. wisch,
   Icel. visk, and perhaps to L. virga a twig, rod. Cf. Verge
   a rod, Whisk, n.]
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   1. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance.
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            In a small basket, on a wisp of hay.  --Dryden.
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   2. A whisk, or small broom.
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   3. A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus.
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            The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread.
                                                  --Tennyson.
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Wisp \Wisp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wisped; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Wisping.]
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   1. To brush or dress, an with a wisp.
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   2. To rumple. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
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Wisp

   ["An Experiment with a Self-Compiling Compiler for a Simple
   List-Processing Language", M.V. Wilkes, Ann Rev Automatic
   Programming 4:1-48.  (1964)].