whisker (whiskers plural )
1 n-count The whiskers of an animal such as a cat or a mouse are the long stiff hairs that grow near its mouth.
2 n-plural You can refer to the hair on a man's face, especially on the sides of his face, as his whiskers.
...wild, savage-looking fellows, with large whiskers, unshaven beards, and dirty faces.
3 n-sing You can use whisker in expressions such as by a whisker or within a whisker of to indicate that something happened or is true, but only by a very small amount or degree.
A new pet census showed that cats now outnumber dogs by a whisker (7 million to 6.9 million)...