whistle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of signalling or summoning by whistling or blowing a whistle

   The whistle signalled the end of the game.

2. 2
   verb

   utter or express by whistling

   I whistled a melody.

3. 3
   verb

   give a signal by whistling

   They whistled for their maid.

4. 4
   verb

   move with, or as with, a whistling sound

   The bullets whistled past him

5. 5
   verb

   to move, send, or bring as if by whistling

   My optimism whistled away these worries.

6. 6
   noun

   A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.

   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.

7. 7
   noun

   A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.

   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.

8. 8
   noun

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

   the whistle of the wind in the trees

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”).