whistle

From Middle English whistlen, from Old English hwistlan, hwistlian (“to whistle”), from Proto-Germanic *hwistlōną (“to make a hissing sound”). Cognate with Icelandic hvísla (“to whisper”), Russian свистеть (svistetʹ, “to whistle”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /wɪsl̩/, IPA^(key): /ʍɪsl̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /wɪsl̩/, IPA^(key): /ʍɪsl̩/
• Rhymes: -ɪsəl

• Audio (US)

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whistle (countable and uncountable, plural whistles)

1. A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
2. An act of whistling.
3. A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. […] As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.

4. Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.

   the whistle of the wind in the trees

5. (Cockney rhyming slang) A suit (from whistle and flute).
   • 2005, Wally Payne, A Minority of One: A Monkey's Tale Continued

     We soldiers changed into our No.1 dress uniforms, Sid into his best whistle and we set off for the church.

6. (colloquial) The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.
   • Walton

     Let's drink the other cup to wet our whistles.

whistle (third-person singular simple present whistles, present participle whistling, simple past and past participle whistled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth. To produce a whistling sound, restrictions to the flow of air are created using the teeth, tongue and lips.

   Never whistle at a funeral.

   She was whistling a happy tune.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.

   The stream train whistled as it passed by.

3. (intransitive) To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.

   A bullet whistled past.

4. (transitive) To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
   • Addison

     He chanced to miss his dog; we stood still till he had whistled him up.

• whistle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Whistle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• whilest