- (v.i.) To sound shrill or like a pipe; to make a sharp, shrill sound; as, a bullet whistles through the air.
- (v.t.) To send, signal or call by a whistle.
- (v.i.) 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.
- (v.i.) 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.
- (v.t.) To form, utter or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or an air.
- (v.i.) The mouth and throat; -- so called as being the organs of whistling.
- (v.i.) To make a shrill sound with a wind or steam instrument, somewhat like that made with the lips; to blow a sharp, shrill tone.
- (v.i.) 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).
- (v.i.) 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). Whistle. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/whistle/definitions/2081784 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "Whistle" http://smartdefine.org/whistle/definitions/2081784 (accessed September 23, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, Whistle, Smart Define, viewed 23 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/whistle/definitions/2081784>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "Whistle" 28 May 2011. Web. 23 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/whistle/definitions/2081784> |