whistle : Idioms & Phrases

• noun a whistle on a boat that is sounded as a warning
  

WordNet

• noun a whistle at a factory that is sounded to announce times for starting or stopping work
  

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• noun a whistle in which the sound is produced by steam; usually attached to a steam boiler
  

WordNet

• an apparatus attached to a steam boiler, as of a locomotive, through which steam is rapidly discharged, producing a loud whistle which serves as a warning signal. The steam issues from a narrow annular orifice around the upper edge of the lower cup or hemisphere, striking the thin edge of the bell above it, and producing sound in the manner of an organ pipe or a common whistle.

Webster 1913

• noun an inexpensive fipple flute
  pennywhistle; whistle.
  

WordNet

• to moisten one's throat; to drink a dram of liquor. Colloq.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To dismiss by a whistle; a term in hawking. "AS a long-winged hawk when he is first whistled off the fist, mounts aloft." Burton. (b) Hence, in general, to turn loose; to abandon; to dismiss.

Webster 1913

• noun an informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it
  whistle blower; whistleblower.
  
  • the law gives little protection to whistleblowers who feel the public has a right to know what is going on
  • the whistleblower was fired for exposing the conditions in mental hospitals

WordNet

• noun a buoy that makes a whistling noise
  whistle buoy.
  

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• (Zoöl.), the American golden-eye.

Webster 1913

• noun a small railway station between the principal stations or a station where the train stops only on a signal
  flag stop; way station.
  

WordNet

• noun an informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it
  whistle blower; whistleblower.
  
  • the law gives little protection to whistleblowers who feel the public has a right to know what is going on
  • the whistleblower was fired for exposing the conditions in mental hospitals

WordNet

• noun a tour by a candidate as part of a political campaign in which a series of small towns are visited
  
  • in 1948 Truman crossed the country several times on his whistle-stop tours

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• noun a buoy that makes a whistling noise
  whistle buoy.
  

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• noun large North American mountain marmot
  whistler; Marmota caligata; hoary marmot.
  

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• noun North American subspecies of tundra swan having a soft whistling note
  Cygnus columbianus columbianus.
  

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• verb whistle or howl approvingly at a female, of males
  

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