whistle

Meanings

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.
• An act of whistling.
• A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
• Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
• A suit (from whistle and flute).
• The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.

Verb

• 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.
• To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.
• To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.
• To send, signal, or call by a whistle.

Origin

• From Middle English whistlen, from Old English hwistlan, hwistlian, from Proto-Germanic *hwistlōną ("to make a hissing sound"). Cognate with Icelandic hvísla, Russian свистеть.