whistle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪs.əl/
ipa: /ˈʍɪs.əl/
ipa: [-.l̩]
rhymes: -ɪsəl
Forms: form: whistles
form: whistling
form: whistled
form: whistled
Etymology: From Middle English whistlen, from Old English hwistlan, hwistlian (“to whistle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwistlōn, from Proto-Germanic *hwistlōną (“to make a hissing sound”). Cognate with Swedish vissla (“to whistle”), Icelandic hvísla (“to whisper”), Russian свистеть (svistetʹ, “to whistle”).
Senses: examples: text: Never whistle at a funeral.
text: He was whistling a happy tune.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: The steam train whistled as it passed by.
text: It requires quite an orchestra to get a train to start; the guard blows his horn, the stationmaster rings a large bell, and the engine whistles.
ref: 1941 February, Voyageur, “The Railways of Greece”, in Railway Magazine, page 67:
glosses: To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.
examples: text: A bullet whistled past.
glosses: To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.
glosses: To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
qualifier: Opus Dei
glosses: To request admission to Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic organization.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: fulvous whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: go whistle
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: Indian whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: lesser whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: lesser whistling teal
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: plumed whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: spotted whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: wandering whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: when shrimps whistle
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistleable
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle Dixie
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle down the wind
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle for something
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle in the dark
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle in the wind
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle past
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle past the graveyard
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistle up
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling arrow
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling buoy
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling duck
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling face syndrome
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling hare
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling kite
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling marmot
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling shop
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: whistling swan
sense: Terms derived from the verb whistle
word: wolf-whistle
Related terms: Whistle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)