Whis·tle, n.
1. A sharp, shrill, more or less musical sound, made by forcing the breath through a small orifice of the lips, or through or instrument which gives a similar sound; the sound used by a sportsman in calling his dogs; the shrill note of a bird; as, the sharp whistle of a boy, or of a boatswain's pipe; the blackbird's mellow whistle.
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. --Spectator.
They fear his whistle, and forsake the seas. --Dryden.
2. The shrill sound made by wind passing among trees or through crevices, or that made by bullet, or the like, passing rapidly through the air; the shrill noise (much used as a signal, etc.) made by steam or gas escaping through a small orifice, or impinging against the edge of a metallic bell or cup.
3. An instrument in which gas or steam forced into a cavity, or against a thin edge, produces a sound more or less like that made by one who whistles through the compressed lips; as, a child's whistle; a boatswain's whistle; a steam whistle (see Steam whistle, under Steam).
The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew. --Pope.
4. The mouth and throat; -- so called as being the organs of whistling. [Colloq.]
So was her jolly whistle well ywet. --Chaucer.
Let's drink the other cup to wet our whistles. --Walton.
Whistle duck Zool., the American golden-eye.
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