From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwispwisp /wɪsp/ noun [countable]1PIECEa wisp of hair, grass, hay etc is a thin piece of it that is separate from the restwisp ofA wisp of hair had escaped from under her hat.2LITTLE/NOT MUCHa wisp of smoke, cloud, mist etc is a small thin line of it that rises upwardswisp ofWisps of smoke rose into the air. →will o' the wisp —wispy adjectiveExamples from the Corpuswisp• Next comes a snap of a wisp of hair.• If there was any wisp of consciousnessremaining, it was beyond the reach of instruments, and of memory.• Her body lay open before him, her only covering a few wisps of silk.• One wisp of smoke will not yearn for another.• Corbett steeled himself but Agatha only moved the wisps of blonde hair from her forehead.• Tinywisps of ashfloated up.• At dawn he'd woken up briefly, plagued by the vanishingwisps of a vague and irritatingdream.• Smoke rose out of the crookedchimneys that poked through their roofs, white wispstrailingnorth with the wind.Originwisp(1300-1400) Perhaps from whisk