whistle

1 verb

1 HIGH SOUND (I, T) to make a high or musical sound by blowing air out through your lips: Adam whistled happily as he walked along. | whistle a song/tune: I heard this song on the radio and I've been whistling it all day. | whistle to sb (=to get their attention): Adrian whistled to them but they didn't seem to hear him.

2 USE A WHISTLE (I) to make a high sound by blowing into a whistle: The referee whistled and the game began.

3 GO/MOVE FAST (intransitive always + adv/prep) to move quickly with a whistling sound: Bullets and shells were whistling overhead.

4 STEAM TRAIN/KETTLE (I) to make a high sound when air or steam is forced through a small hole

5 BIRD (I) to make a high, often musical sound

6 whistle in the dark informal to try to show that you are brave when really you are afraid: Her fine words had been so much whistling in the dark.

7 you can whistle for it BrE spoken used to tell someone that there is no chance of them getting what they have asked for

8 not be whistling Dixie AmE spoken to be saying something because it is true, not just because you wish it was true: Hey, this is good - and I'm not just whistling Dixie.

2 noun (C)

1 a small object that produces a high whistling sound when you blow into it: blow a whistle: Wait till the referee blows his whistle.

—see also: penny whistle

2 a high sound made by blowing a whistle, by blowing air out through your lips, or when air or steam is forced through a small opening

—see also: wolf whistle

3 the sound of something moving quickly through the air: the whistle of the wind in the trees

—see also: blow the whistle on blow 1 (22), clean as a whistle clean 1 (19), wet your whistle wet 2 (3)