WHISTLE

vt to send, signal, or call by a whistle.

2. whistle ·vi the mouth and throat;

— so called as being the organs of whistling.

3. whistle ·vt to form, utter, or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or an air.

4. whistle ·vi to sound shrill, or like a pipe; to make a sharp, shrill sound; as, a bullet whistles through the air.

5. whistle ·vi to make a shrill sound with a wind or steam instrument, somewhat like that made with the lips; to blow a sharp, shrill tone.

6. whistle ·vi to make a kind of musical sound, or series of sounds, by forcing the breath through a small orifice formed by contracting the lips; also, to emit a similar sound, or series of notes, from the mouth or beak, as birds.

7. whistle ·vi an instrument in which gas or steam forced into a cavity, or against a thin edge, produces a sound more or less like that made by one who whistles through the compressed lips; as, a child's whistle; a boatswain's whistle; a steam whistle (see steam whistle, under steam).

8. whistle ·vi the shrill sound made by wind passing among trees or through crevices, or that made by bullet, or the like, passing rapidly through the air; the shrill noise (much used as a signal, ·etc.) made by steam or gas escaping through a small orifice, or impinging against the edge of a metallic bell or cup.

9. whistle ·vi a sharp, shrill, more or less musical sound, made by forcing the breath through a small orifice of the lips, or through or instrument which gives a similar sound; the sound used by a sportsman in calling his dogs; the shrill note of a bird; as, the sharp whistle of a boy, or of a boatswain's pipe; the blackbird's mellow whistle.