Definition of: whistle

(hwis′əl) noun
1. A device for producing a shrill, musical sound, operated on the principle of forcing a current of air, steam, or the like, through a pipe or tube of narrowed aperture or against a thin edge.
2. A musical sound, more or less shrill, made without the use of the vocal cords, by sending the breath through a small orifice formed by contracting the lips; also, the act of making this sound.
3. The sound produced by a whistle, or any sound suggestive of it, as the sound of wind rushing by an object, or of a flying missile, or the shrill cry of some birds.
4. A summons or call made by a whistle: The dog comes at his master's whistle.
5. Slang The mouth and throat: to wet one's whistle.
6. The short, loud cry of a male moose or elk.
—v. ·tled, ·tling v.i.
1. To make a sound or series of sounds like a whistle.
2. To cause a sharp, shrill sound by swift passage through the air, or by passage past an edge or through an orifice: The bullets whistled over our heads.
3. To blow or sound a whistle.
—v.t.
4. To produce, as a tune or melody, by whistling.
5. To call, manage, or direct by whistling.
6. To send with a whistling sound.
—to whistle for To go without; fail to get. [OE hwistle a shrill pipe]