Whistle | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Whis'le, v. i.

verbintransitive

(hwĭs'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. WHISTLED; p. pr. & vb. n. WHISTLING.] [A-S. hwistlan, Sw. hvisla, Dan. hvisle, Icel. hvísla, to whisper, q. v.]

Sense 1. To utter a kind of musical sound, by pressing the breath through a small orifice formed by contracting the lips.

The weary plowman leaves the task of day, And, trudging homeward, whistles on the way. Gay.

Sense 2. To make a shrill sound with a wind instrument, like that made with the lips; to blow a sharp, shrill tone.

Sense 3. To sound shrill, or like a pipe.

The wild winds whistle, and the billows roar. Pope.

Whis'tle, v. t.

verbtransitive

(hwĭs'sl), v. t. 1. To form, utter, or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or air.

Sense 2. To send or call by a whistle.

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

To whistle off. (a.) To dismiss by a whistle; — a term in hawking. “As a long-winged hawk, when he is first whistled off the fist, mounteth aloft.” Burton. (b.) Hence, to turn loose; to abandon.

I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind To prey at fortune. Shak.

☞ “A hawk seems to have been usually sent off in this way against the wind when sent in search of prey; with or down the wind when turned loose and abandoned.” Nares.

Whis'tle, n.

noun

n. [A-S. hwistle, Icel. hvisl, a whisper.]

Sense 1. A sharp, shrill sound, made by pressing the breath through a small orifice of the lips, or through an instrument which gives a similar sound; as, the sharp whistle of a boy, or of a boatswain's pipe; the sound used by a sportsman in calling his dogs; the shrill note of a bird; as, the blackbird's mellow whistle; the shrill sound made by wind passing among trees or through crevices; the shrill noise of steam or gas escaping through a peculiar orifice, and commonly used as a signal, and the like.

Might we but hear The folded flocks penned in their wattled cotes, . . . Or whistle from the lodge. Milton.

The countryman could not forbear smiling, . . . and by that means lost his whistle. Addison.

They fear his whistle, and forsake the seas. Dryden.

Sense 2. An instrument producing a sound like that made by the passage of breath through the compressed lips; as, a child's whistle; a boatswain's whistle; a steam-whistle.

The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew. Pope.

Sense 3. The mouth, as the organ of whistling. [Colloq.]

Let's drink the cup up to wet our whistle. Walton.