Forms: 1–2 hwistle, wistle, 4–7 whistel(l, etc. (see the vb.), 4– whistle; also 4 Sc. quyschile, 5 whystyl, Sc. qwistle, quhissle, 6 whisstill, Sc. qwystelle, qwissel, vhissell, 7 Sc. whissille, whissall, whisle, (8 Sc. dial. fusle), 9. Sc. and north. whustle, whussel. [OE. hwistle (also wuduhwistle), with a variant wistle, related to hwistlian, wistlian (see next). Sense 3 is prob. a new formation on the vb.]
1. A tubular wind instrument of wood, metal, or other hard substance, having a more or less shrill tone, which is produced by impact of air upon a sharp edge; a shrill-toned pipe. Formerly also = pipe or flute.
Used in various forms and sizes for many different purposes: esp. (blown by the mouth) by boatswains, policemen, etc., for calling dogs or horses, or the like, or (blown by steam) on railway engines, steam-ships, etc., for giving a signal or alarm; also as a musical toy, usually or tin and pierced with six holes (commonly called penny whistle, tin whistle). † Almain or German whistle, a file.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke vii. 32. We ʓesungun iuh mið hwistlum.
c. 1000. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 311/22, 27. Musa, pipe, oððe hwistle…. Fistula, hwistle. Ibid. (11[?]), 539/24. Musa, pipe, uel hwistle.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, cl. 4. Orgyns þat is made as a toure of sere whistils.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, vi. (Thomas), 60. A madyne com … hafand a quyschile in-to hand.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, II. iii. (Skeat), I. 55. The bird is begyled with the mery voice of the foulers whistel.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6051. With qwistlis, & qwes, & other qwaint gere.
1427. For. Acc., 61 (P.R.O.). vj par’ corn’ voc’ whisteles.
1463. Bury Wills (Camden), 41. My whistel of silvir.
1513. in Lett. & Papers War France (1913), 148. The boy … sawe hym [sc. the Admiral] take his whistill from aboute his neck,… and hurlid [sic] it in to the see.
1532–3. Act 24 Hen. VIII., c. 13 § 1. It shalbe lefull for … maisters of the Shipps … and maryners to weare whistells of Silver.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Glas, Epil. 19. The yonger sorte, come pyping … In whistles made of fine enticing wood.
1585. Jas. I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 56. O Mercure,… efter Pan had found the quhissill, syne Thou did perfyte, that quhilk he bot espyit.
a. 1610. Heywood & Rowley, Fortune by Land & Sea, IV. i. (1655), 36. Boatswain with your whistle command the Saylors to the upper deck.
1661. Boyle, Style Script., 190. A Child, with a Whistle; a Trifle that onely pleases with a transient and empty sound.
1670–1. Jas. Turner, Pallas Armata, III. xi. (1683), 219. The Bag-pipe … is not so good as the Almain Whistle.
c. 1770. Beattie, To Alex. Ross, ix. Where … shepherd lads on sunny knows Blaw the blythe fusle.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, iii. They havena sae mickle as a German whistle, or a drum, to beat a march, an alarm,… or any other point of war.
1836. Mayne, Siller Gun, I. xxxix. Dangling like a baby’s whustle, The Siller Gun … Gleam’d in the sun!
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxvii. Everything man-of-war fashion, except that there was no boatswain’s whistle.
1898. Flor. Montgomery, Tony, i. The whistle sounded, and the train began slowly to glide out of the station.
b. Phrases, etc. † (a) Box or (Sc.) kist of whistles, a contemptuous appellation for a church organ. (Cf. a. 1340 above.) (b) In comparisons, e.g., as clean, clear, dry as a whistle (often with play on other senses of the adjs.: see quots.). (c) To pay (too dear) for one’s whistle (and similar phrases), to pay much more for something than it is worth: in allusion to a story of Benjamin Franklin (Wks. 1840, II. 182).
(a) 1678. Alsop, Melius Inq., I. ii. 99. Pope Vitalian … first … taught Mankind the Art of Worshipping God with a Box of Whistles.
1866. [see KIST sb.1 1].
(b) 1786. Burns, Author’s Earnest Cry, vii. Her mutchkin stowp as toom’s a whissle.
1828. Craven Gloss., s.v., ‘As clean as a whistle,’ a proverbial simile, signifying completely, entirely.
1842. J. Wilson, Chr. North, I. 84. By the time we reach the manse we are as dry as a whistle.
1849. W. S. Mayo, Kaloolah, v. (1850), 41. A first rate shot;… head taken off as clean as a whistle.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xv. You’re as clean as a whistle.
1880. A. Gray, Lett. (1893), II. 710. My throat was as clear as a whistle.
(c) 1851. Ticknor, Life, Lett. & Jrnls. (1876), II. xiii. 271. Too much, he thought, for the price of such a whistle.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., vii. I should not like to pay too dear for my whistle.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xxxv. If a man likes to do it he must pay for his whistle.
† c. fig. A person who speaks on behalf of another, an ‘instrument,’ ‘mouth-piece’; one who gives a secret signal (cf. WHISTLE v. 10). Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 2. Crist criede in desert, bi Baptist þat was his whistle. Ibid., 240. Poul whom God haþ made his whistil.
1633. Massinger, Guardian, III. vi. (1655), 51. Your neighbour, Your whistle, agent, parasite … Should be within Call, when you hem.
2. colloq. A jocular name for the mouth or throat as used in speaking or singing; chiefly in phr. to wet (erron. whet) one’s whistle, to take a drink.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 235. So was hir ioly whistle wel y-wet.
1530. Palsgr., 760. I wete my whystell, as good drinkers do, je crocque la pie.
1612. Beaum. & Fl., Coxcomb, II. ii. Let’s have no pitty, for if you do, here’s that shall cut your whistle.
1653. Walton, Angler, iii. 75. Lets … drink the other cup to wet our whistles, and so sing away all sad thoughts.
1674. [see WHET v. 6].
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 216. He, that laugh’d, until he choak’d his Whistle.
1715. trans. Pancirollus’ Mem. Things, I. I. I. xi. 28. They did not only moisten their Pates, but their Whistles too.
1787. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Ode upon Ode, Wks. 1812, I. 447. Nor damn thy precious soul to wet thy whistle.
1836. [Hooton], Bilberry Thurland, II. 8. Let’s have another drop to keep my whistle wet.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xiii. Whet your whistle, Jim.
3. An act of whistling; a clear shrill sound produced by forcing the breath through the narrow opening made by contracting the lips; esp. as a call or signal to a person or animal; also as an expression of surprise or astonishment; rarely, the action of whistling a tune. Also, the act of sounding, or the sound made by, a whistle or pipe.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 151. Whan Marcuryis whystyl hym dede streyne To hys deed slepe.
1586. [? J. Case], Praise Mus., iii. 43. The ploughman & carter, are … compelled to frame their breath into a whistle.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 608. He requireth of a skilfull shepheard a voyce or whisell intelligable to the sheepe, whereby to call them together.
1634. Milton, Comus, 346. The … sound of pastoral reed…, Or whistle from the Lodge.
1671. Trenchfield, Cap Gray Hairs (1688), 53. When Dogs or Horses shew their ready motion at our Whistle or Chirrup.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. ii. She took an Opportunity … to interrupt one of his Whistles in the following Manner.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xviii. Lucky that Klepper knows my whistle, and follows me as truly as a hound.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxiii. There was nothing but a whistle emphatic enough for the conclusion of the sentence.
1856. Amy Carlton, 13. The engine gave its warning yell, as Amy called the whistle.
1896. Conan Doyle, Exploits Gerard, vi. 216. Sometimes, too, I would hear the dry rattle of the drums and the shrill whistle of the fifes.
b. fig. or in figurative phrases: Call, summons.
Formerly often in phr. not worth a whistle: hence as a type of something worthless. Rarely with other implications: † A moment, instant (in phr. in a whistle): a ‘whisper,’ slight mention (cf. WHISTLE v. 10).
a. 1519. Skelton, Col. Cloute, 238. They … woteth neuer what thei rede, Paternoster, Ave, nor Crede; Construe not worth a whystle Nether Gospell nor Pystle.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iv. (Arb.), 26. Kocks nownes what meanest thou man, tut a whistle.
c. 1580. Bugbears, III. ii. He red me a pistle and told a long round about not worth a whistle.
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., II. 67. That hee shoulde be brought to the whistle, or daunce after their pipe.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. ii. 29. I haue beene worth the whistle.
1639. J. Clarke, Parœm., 232. Ready to run at every mans whistle.
1641. Milton, Animadv., 57. Those drossy spirits that need the lure and whistle of earthly preferment.
1643. Trapp, Comm. Gen. vi. 3. It bloweth where it listeth, and will not be at your whistle.
1784. R. Bage, Barham Downs, II. 273. He could do it in a whistle.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 337. All his followers … were ready at his whistle to array themselves round him.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, i. Can you forget … old friends at the mere whistle of a name?
c. The clear shrill voice or note of a bird, or of certain other animals.
1784. Cowper, Death of Mrs. Throckmorton’s Bulfinch, 10. With a whistle blest, Well-taught, he all the sounds express’d Of flagelet or flute.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxxvii. A miserable linnet … began to greet them with his whistle.
1839. Penny Cycl., XV. 517/1. They [sc. Marmots] … when angry, or before a storm pierce the ear with their shrill whistle.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xv. 103. To its [sc. a chamois’] whistle our guide whistled in reply.
1881. Jefferies, Toilers of Field (1892), 297. The blackbird’s whistle is very human, like a human being playing the flute.
d. Any similar sound, as of wind blowing through trees or rigging, of a missile flying through the air, etc.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Occas. Poems, Ode whether Love shd. continue for ever. Soft whistles of the wind, And warbling murmurs of a brook.
1826. J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xx. We … are already nearly out of whistle of a bullet.
1867. Morris, Jason, XV. 435. Therewithal must I … writhe beneath the whistle of the whip.
1883. Bottone, Electr. Instr. Making (ed. 2), 30. To a practised ear the peculiar whistle tells when the glass is being cut, and when only scratched.
4. attrib. and Comb., as whistle-call; whistle-belly-vengeance (slang), bad liquor, such as causes rumbling in the bowels (cf. whip-belly-vengeance under WIP- 2 a); whistle-fish [see quot. 1836], a name for different species of rockling or sea-loach; whistle-grinder, a contemptuous appellation for a church organist (cf. 1 b (a)); whistle-insect (see quot.); whistle-kist, Sc.: see 1 b (a); whistle-line, -pull, a line or cord by pulling which the whistle of a steamer is sounded; † whistle-pipe, a whistle for decoying birds; whistle-ring, a ring constructed to be sounded as a whistle; † whistle-stalk, a stalk made into a whistle or pipe, a ‘reed’; whistle-tankard, a drinking-vessel fitted with a whistle, which sounds when it is emptied; whistle-wing, a name for the golden-eyed duck (GOLDEN-EYE 1 a), from the shrill sound made by its wings in flying; whistle-wood, a name for various trees whose bark is easily peeled off, used by boys to make whistles, as the alder, bass-wood, mountain-ash, and various species of maple.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xli. I thought you wouldn’t appreciate the widow’s tap … Regular *whistle-belly vengeance, and no mistake.
1830. Scott, Demonol., x. 393. Mariners conceive they hear the *whistle-call.
a. 1672. Willughby, Hist. Pisc. (1686), 121. Mustela vulgaris Rondeletii … A Sea Loche Cestriæ. *Whistle-fish in Cornubia.
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 128. The Irish have their song at the taking of the razor shell; and the Cornish theirs, at the taking of the whistle fish.
1836. Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, II. 188. I believe … that … the term has been changed,… and that for Whistle-fish we ought to read Weasel-fish. Both the Three and Five Bearded Rocklings were called mustela from the days of Pliny … to the present time.
1843. J. Ballantine, Gaberlunzie’s Wallet, 237. Doors were shut against the *‘whistle-grinder.’
1760. G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., II. 161. The head is made like that of a locust: the … thorax is surrounded with many sharp points;… I have called it the *Whistle-Insect, because it very nearly agrees with another insect found in Africa, of which the natives make whistles to call their cattle together: these whistles consist of the whole outer cover of the insect.
1843. J. Ballantine, Gaberlunzie’s Wallet, 139. Grinding muckle *whistle kists, Sic abomination.
1898. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, v. 4. The second mate, with his hand on the *whistle-line, blared out his warning note every half-minute.
1570. Henry’s Wallace, VIII. 1423. Ane *quhissil pype.
1587. A. Day, Daphnis & Chloe (1890), 14. Vpon what occasion to vse the Whistle-Pipe, and how at another time to call with their voice alone.
1892. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Slave of Lamp, xxvi. Her captain swearing on the bridge, with the *whistle-pull in his hand.
1877. W. Jones, Finger-ring, 534. *Whistle-rings, puzzle-rings, squirt-rings, &c.
a. 1653. G. Daniel, Idyll., iv. 74. A *whistle-Stalke.
1909. Daily Chron., 12 July, 4/7. In the possession of the Corporation of Hull … is a *whistle tankard which belonged to Anthony Lambert, Mayor of Hull in 1669.
1872. Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds, 361. *Whistle-wing = Golden-eye.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., *Whussel-wood, the alder and plane-tree; used by boys in making whistles.
