Forms: see WHISTLE v.; also 5 Sc. quhestlyng, 6 Sc. quhisling, 7 whisling. [OE. (h)wistlung, f. (h)wistlian, WHISTLE v.: see -ING1.] The action of the verb WHISTLE, in various senses.
1. a. The action of producing a shrill note or notes by forcing the breath through the lips; the utterance of a tune, etc., in this way; † hissing: see WHISTLE v. 1, 5.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxiii. 173. Sua sua mid liðre wisðlunga mon hors ʓestilleð, sua eac mid ðære illcan wistlunga mon mæʓ hund astyriʓean.
c. 1100. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 162/44. Sibilatio, hwistlung.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 456. Foules þat … folwed his whistellynge.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Chron. xxix. 8. He toke hem in to distourblynge, and into deth, and in to whistlyng [Vulg. sibilum].
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xiv. (Bodl. MS.), lf. 255 b/2. An oxe heerde … pleseþ þam [sc. the oxen] wiþ whistelinge and wiþ songe.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., K iij b. Vnmanned Haukes forsake the lure, all whistlyng brings them not to fiste.
1663. Cowley, Ess., Agric., Wks. (1674), 106. Some swell up their sleight Sails with pop’lar fame, Charm’d with the foolish whistlings of a Name.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Superst., etc., 66. Whistling at sea is supposed to cause an increase of wind, if not a storm.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 45. The same absence of thought which is shewn in England by whistling is displayed in Spain by singing.
1892. Kipling, Lett. Trav. (1920), 65. He continued an interrupted whistling of ‘I owe ten dollars to O’Grady.’
b. The action of sounding a whistle or pipe; piping.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xv. 25. Wæs ða sunu his ældra on lond & miððy ʓecuome & ʓeneolecde to huse ʓeherde huislung [L. simphoniam] & þæt song.
1576. Curteys, Two Serm., B iv b. The Shephearde needeth a Whistle, and … a Dog and an hooke, that suche Sheep as wil not come in with whistling may be either baited in with a Dogge, or drawen in with a Hook.
1679. Oates, Myst. Iniq., 14. The Master of a Galley … with once whistling makes all the Galley Slaves fall to their Oars.
1884. Manch. Exam., 6 Oct., 5/6. The occasional whistling of an engine.
c. In phrases alluding to the act of whistling by way of a call or summons, as for the whistling (= quite easily, without any trouble), worth the whistling.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 35. It is … a poore dogge, that is not woorth the whystlyng.
1601. Sir W. Cornwallis, Ess., II. lii. (1631), 334. Magnanimitie, state, absolutenes are qualities worth the whistling.
1610. J. Robinson, Justif. Sep., 152. In England a man may haue a Priest for the whisteling.
1655. Nicholas Papers (Camden), II. 287. He may be had for whistlinge.
2. The utterance of a clear shrill note or notes, as the natural call of a bird or other animal; † also formerly, the hissing of serpents.
In quots. 1375 app. an error for questing = baying (of dogs).
c. 950. Guthlac (Prose), viii. (1909), 139. Mislice fuʓela hwistlunge.
13[?]. K. Alis., 5247 (Laud MS.). Grete Addren comen flynge And scorpions wiþ vile whistlynge.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VI. 87. He herd … A hundis quhistlyng [ed. Hart whissilling, MS. Edinb. questionyng] apon fer. Ibid., 94. A hundis quhestlyng.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 14140. Whan I here ther … whystlynges, For verray Ioy I hoppe and daunce.
1728. Pope, Dunc., III. 156. Each Cygnet sweet,… Whose tuneful whistling makes the waters pass.
1847. Leichhardt, Jrnl., xiii. 461. The leatherhead with its constantly changing call and whistling.
1855. C. E. Norton, Lett. to Lowell, 6 April. There is scarcely a sound but the whistling of the frogs.
b. A form of broken wind in horses: cf. WHISTLER 2 d.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, II. III. ii. § 1. 403. Roaring, whistling, and all defects of the wind, are easily discovered on the first smart gallop.
3. The production of any shrill sound of this kind, as by the wind, a missile, etc.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. ii. 6. Quhair Eolus … the wyndis lowde quhisling … by his power refrenis.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. i. 5. The Southerne winde … by his hollow whistling in the Leaues, Fortels a Tempest.
1608. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. Schism, 932. Sea’s angry noise, loud bellowing of the Winde,… the tackles whisteling.
1609. Bible (Douay), 1 Kings xix. 12. And after the fire a wistling of a gentle winde.
1681–6. J. Scott, Chr. Life (1747), III. 9. We regard what he saith no more than we do the Whistling of the Wind.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., II. i. 58. The arrows made a loud whistling in their flight.
1841. J. F. Cooper, Deerslayer, iii. At the report of the rifle and the whistling of the bullet.
1844. Dufton, Deafness, 77. If there is mucus, then various kinds of gurgling and whistling will be evident.
1899. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt, 337. Swishing their white tails … with such violence that the whistling caused by this movement can be heard nearly a quarter of a mile away.
4. attrib., as whistling match, pipe; whistling-post, a post beside a railway-line, on passing which the engine-whistle is sounded; whistling-shop slang, a room in a prison in which spirits were secretly sold without a licence (a signal being given by whistling to escape detection).
1837. D. Walker, Sports & Games, 344. *Whistling Match. A match of this kind is recorded in a paper of Addison’s.
1586. [? J. Case], Praise Mus., i. 18. The *whistling pipes which were made for the most part, of reedes.
1898. Hamblen, Gen. Manager’s Story, x. 139–14. I managed to see most of the *whistling-posts, however, and if I had any doubts about having passed one, I blew the crossing signal anyway.
1796. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), *Whistling shop, rooms in the King’s Bench prison where drams are privately sold.
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, III. v. Scene V.—Interior of Whistling Shop.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlv. A whistling-shop, sir, is where they sell spirits.
