Forms: see WHISTLE v.; also 6 Sc. quhuslar, 7 whisler. [OE. hwistlere, f. hwistlian, WHISTLE v.: see -ER1.] A person, animal or thing that whistles.
1. a. One who sounds, or plays upon, a whistle or pipe; a flute-player, piper or fifer. Now rare.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. ix. 23. Þa se hælend com into þæs ealdres healle, & ʓeseah hwistleras.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 475. With wederes and with wondres, he warneth vs with a whistlere.
1538. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VI. 399. In primis to iiij trumpetouris, iiij tabernouris, and iij quhislaris.
1538. in Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, I. 292*. Debursat upoun þe Trumpetouris Tabernaris Quhuslaris and vtheris.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 30. The whistler with his iron Pipe encouraging the Marriners.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Pain in Pleas., 5. I desired the art Of the Greek whistler, who … Could lure those insect swarms from orange-trees.
b. One who whistles with the lips.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 525/1. Whystelare, ossinus, ossinator.
1542. [see BENCH-WHISTLER].
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., XIII. lxxxii. But, hark, ’tis late; the Whislers knock from Plough.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 145, ¶ 4. Whistlers, Singers and common Orators.
1850. G. P. R. James, Old Oak Chest, xxxviii. He was a great whistler, even when his thoughts were busiest.
1879. All Year Round, 4 Jan., 184/1. He was a good whistler, and knew it.
c. slang. A keeper of a ‘whistling-shop’; an unlicensed spirit-seller.
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, III. v. The whistler, otherwise the spirit merchant.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlv. ‘Are these rooms never searched…?’ said Mr. Pickwick. ‘Cert’nly they are, sir,’ replied Sam; ‘but the turnkey knows beforehand, and gives the word to the wistlers, and you may wistle for it wen you go to look.’
2. a. A bird that whistles.
Applied locally to various species, as the golden-eye or whistle-wing (see WHISTLE sb. 4; also whistler-duck), the widgeon, the ring-ouzel, the lapwing. Also spec. used of some nocturnal bird having a whistling note believed to be of ill omen: when flying in a flock, called the seven whistlers.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 36. The Whistler shrill, that who so heares, doth dy.
1623. Webster, Duchess Malfi, IV. ii. Hearke, now euery thing is still, The Schritch-Owle, and the whistler shrill, Call vpon our Dame, aloud, And bid her quickly don her shrowd.
1782. Pennant, Gen. Syn. Birds, I. II. 443. Whistler O[riole]…. Inhabits St. Domingo, where it is called Siffleur.
1848. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 19. The note of a whistler-duck.
1874. J. W. Long, Amer. Wild-fowl, xxix. 281. Local names: butter-box, butter-ball, and little whistler.
1883. Leisure Hour, Dec., 733/1. Immense flocks of birds were flying about uttering a doleful shrill whistling … they were what were called the ‘Seven Whistlers,’ and … considered a sign of some great calamity.
1884. Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2), 704. Clangula glaucium. Golden-eye. Whistler. Garrot.
b. (trans. Canadian Fr. siffleur.) A large species of marmot (Arctomys pruinosus) found in mountainous parts of N. America.
1820. Harmon, Jrnl., 427. A small animal, found only on the Rocky Mountain, denominated, by the Natives, Quis-qui-su, or whistlers, from the noise which they frequently make, and always when surprised.
1829. J. Richardson, etc., Fauna Boreali-Amer., I. 150. The Whistler inhabits the Rocky Mountains from latitude 45° to 62°.
c. = whistle-fish: see WHISTLE sb. 4.
1864. Couch, Brit. Fishes, III. 105. Three-bearded Rockling. Whistler. Whistle-fish … Motella vulgaris.
d. A broken-winded horse that breathes hard with a shrill sound.
1824. Percivall, Vet. Art, xxxiv. II. 243. We hear of pipers, wheezers, whistlers, high-blowers, and grunters: a cant in common use among our horse-dealers and horse-men, of the vulgar meaning of which no professional man should show ignorance.
1829. Sporting Mag. (N. S.), XXIII. 214. It is very common to hear a person say ‘my horse is a bit of a whistler,’ when he means to imply he is not an absolute roarer.
1845. W. C. Spooner, Vet. Art (1851), 46. We have the names, whistlers, wheezers, and high-blowers, given by horse-dealers to horses that roar.
3. Something that makes a whistling sound.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Browns and Whistlers, bad halfpence and farthings; (a term used by coiners).
1822. R. G. Wallace, Fifteen Yrs. India, 118. The quarter-master will transport with the corps forty thousand rounds of spare ammunition, after completing each pouch with sixty whistlers.
1896. Daily News, 1 Feb., 5/5. There comes a breezy norther from the frozen steppes—a real Arctic whistler which makes one’s face tingle and smart.
