whistle
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /wɪsl̩/, IPA: /ʍɪsl̩/
Noun

whistle

  1. A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
  2. An act of whistling.
  3. A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
  4. Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
    the whistle of the wind in the trees
  5. (Cockney rhyming slang) A suit (from whistle and flute).
  6. (colloquial) The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.
    • Let's drink the other cup to wet our whistles.
Translations Translations
  • French: siffler
  • German: Pfeifen
  • Portuguese: apitada (with a whistle), assoviada, assobiada (with one’s mouth)
  • Russian: свист
Translations Translations Verb

whistle (whistles, present participle whistling; past and past participle whistled)

  1. (ambitransitive) 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.
    Never whistle at a funeral.
    She was whistling a happy tune.
  2. (ambitransitive) To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.
    The stream train whistled as it passed by.
  3. (intransitive) To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.
    A bullet whistled past.
  4. (transitive) To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
Translations Translations
  • Russian: свисте́ть
  • Spanish: silbar



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