Whirlwind

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion. The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods. And drowns the villages. Bryant.

2. Fig.: A body of objects sweeping violently onward. "The whirlwind of hounds and hunters." Macaulay.