whistle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪs.əl/
ipa: /ˈʍɪs.əl/
ipa: [-.l̩]
rhymes: -ɪsəl
Forms: form: whistles
Etymology: From Middle English whistel, whistil, whistle, from Old English hwistle, from the verb (see below).
Senses: examples: text: A lovely crisp exhaust: a feeling of almost unlimited power combined with complete freedom of running: and, to crown it all, a most melodious and wholly American chime whistle—these were my immediate impressions as we stormed rapidly out of Göttingen, intent on winning back some of the lost time.
ref: 1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 611:
text: One thing I took great care to observe was obedience to the "whistle" boards which crop up with great frequency, for failure to sound the whistle, if observed by the gendarmerie, can bring about serious consequences.
ref: 1961 March, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 151:
text: [...] and Temple station, which had to have a very modestly proportioned station building on the insistence of the Duke of Norfolk who owned the land on which it was built, and where the trains under the glass roof of the station were not allowed to blow their whistles, at the insistence of the barristers in the nearby Inns of Court.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 61–62:
glosses: A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
glosses: An act of whistling.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
examples: the whistle of the wind in the trees
glosses: Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
examples: text: We soldiers changed into our No.1 dress uniforms, Sid into his best whistle and we set off for the church.
ref: 2005, Wally Payne, A Minority of One: A Monkey's Tale Continued:
glosses: A suit (from whistle and flute).
examples: text: Let's […] drink the other cup to wet our whistles.
ref: 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN:
glosses: The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: bells and whistles
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: Bird Whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: blow the whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: chime whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: clean as a whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: death whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: dog whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: final whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: fox whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: Galton's whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: green whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: it's not the whistle that pulls the train
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: nose whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: not worth a whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: pay for one's whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: peanut whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: pea whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: penny whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: pie whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: play to the whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: postwhistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: rape whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: sea whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: silent whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: slick as a whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: slide whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: swanee whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: Tenterfield whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: tin whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: wet one's whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle and flute
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle-belly vengeance
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle-blower
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle board
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle-drunk
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistleless
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistlelike
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle note
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle-pig
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle pig
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle post
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle register
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle-stop
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle-to-whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: whistle walk
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: wolf whistle
sense: Terms derived from the noun whistle
word: worth the whistle