{i} stiff sensory hairs or whiskers on the face of a mammal (e.g. hairs in the nostrils of a human); bristly feathers near the beak of an insect-eating bird
One of the specialized or tactile hairs which grow about the nostrils, or on other parts of the face, in many animals, as the so-called whiskers of the cat, and the hairs of the nostrils of man