English Explanatory Dictionary

whistle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
  2. An act of whistling.
  3. A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
  4. Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
  5. A suit (from whistle and flute).
  6. The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.
verb
  1. 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.
  2. To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.
  3. To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.
  4. To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
  5. To request admission to Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic organization.

Pronunciation

/ˈwɪs(ə)l/ [ˈwɪsl̩] En-us-whistle.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-whistle.wav /ˈʍɪs(ə)l/ /ˈʋ(h)ɪsɪl/

Word forms

whistle whistles whistling whistled

Etymology

From Middle English whistel, whistil, whistle, from Old English hwistle, from the verb (see below).

Related words

Whistle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Derived words

bells and whistles Bird Whistle blow the whistle chime whistle clean as a whistle death whistle dog whistle final whistle fox whistle Galton's whistle green whistle it's not the whistle that pulls the train nose whistle not worth a whistle pay for one's whistle peanut whistle pea whistle penny whistle pie whistle play to the whistle postwhistle rape whistle sea whistle silent whistle slick as a whistle slide whistle swanee whistle Tenterfield whistle tin whistle wet one's whistle whistle and flute whistle-belly vengeance whistle-blower whistle board whistle-drunk whistleless whistlelike whistle note whistle-pig whistle pig whistle post whistle register whistle-stop whistle-to-whistle whistle walk wolf whistle worth the whistle fulvous whistling duck go whistle Indian whistling duck lesser whistling duck lesser whistling teal plumed whistling duck spotted whistling duck wandering whistling duck when shrimps whistle whistleable whistle Dixie whistle down the wind whistle for something

Translations

Armenian: սուլոց Assamese: সুহুৰি Assamese: উকি Breton: c'hwitelladenn Breton: c'hwitelladennoù Catalan: xiulada Chinese Mandarin: 口哨 Danish: fløjt Danish: pift Dutch: fluittoon Esperanto: fajfo Finnish: vihellys Finnish: vislaus French: sifflet French: sifflement French: sifflements Galician: asubío Georgian: სტვენა German: Pfeifen German: Pfiff Greek: σφύριγμα Greek: σφυριξιά Hindi: सीटी Hungarian: füttyszó Indonesian: siulan Italian: fischio Japanese: 口笛 Korean: 휘파람 Latvian: svilpiens Lithuanian: švilpimas Malay: siulan Malayalam: ചൂളം Marathi: शिटी Polish: gwizd Portuguese: apito Portuguese: assobio Portuguese: assovio Romanian: fluierat Russian: свист Russian: свисто́к Scottish Gaelic: fead Serbo-Croatian: зви̏ждӯк Serbo-Croatian: zvȉždūk Slovak: hvizd Spanish: silbato Spanish: pitido Spanish: chiflido Spanish: pitada Spanish: chifla Spanish: chifle Spanish: rechifla Swedish: vissling Thai: เสียงผิวปาก Ukrainian: свист Ukrainian: свисто́к Ukrainian: сюрчо́к Urdu: سیٹی Venetan: fis-cio Welsh: chwiban Welsh: chwibaniad
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