whistle-stop

Named for the train whistle that is frequently blown before stopping in small towns.

whistle-stop (plural whistle-stops)

1. (idiomatic) A small train station.
2. (politics) A brief stop on a campaign tour to make a speech or perform some other type of public electioneering.

• The unhyphenated spelling, whistle stop, is more common in political usage (except when used attributively). Although originally strictly a US term, it is now used in the UK and elsewhere.

whistle-stop (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Extremely brief and hurried.

   We've only got 30 minutes at the stadium, so I'll give you a whistle-stop tour.

• whistle-stop cafe
• whistle-stop train tour

whistle-stop (third-person singular simple present whistle-stops, present participle whistle-stopping, simple past and past participle whistle-stopped)

1. (politics, intransitive) To make a brief stop on a campaign tour to make a speech or perform some other type of public electioneering.

• postwhistle