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Whistle   /wˈɪsəl/  /hwˈɪsəl/   Listen
Whistle

noun
1.
The sound made by something moving rapidly or by steam coming out of a small aperture.  Synonym: whistling.
2.
The act of signalling (e.g., summoning) by whistling or blowing a whistle.  Synonym: whistling.
3.
A small wind instrument that produces a whistling sound by blowing into it.
4.
Acoustic device that forces air or steam against an edge or into a cavity and so produces a loud shrill sound.
5.
An inexpensive fipple flute.  Synonyms: pennywhistle, tin whistle.



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"Whistle" Quotes from Famous Books



... the bright portico, his patent-leather boots twinkling under the lamp's rays on that comfortable carpet. I waited, expecting him to whistle for a hansom. But he turned, gave an order to the butler, and stepping briskly down into the street, made off eastwards. The door closed behind him. He was the man I most hated in the world. If I had longed to cross the threshold ...
— Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts • A. T. Quiller-Couch

... pretty mad to lose that chance at good game and he made up his mind that he'd take it out of the telltales, so he began to whistle 'em back. He was a master hand at any wild call and pretty soon he lit the flock. There they were, a rim of yellow-legs all around the pond, a perfect circle except in one place, where some dogwood bushes made down to the water's edge. Then granddad ...
— Old Plymouth Trails • Winthrop Packard

... the long ears that now were so terribly torn and bloody. He saw the great, gray, lordly Finn pacing gravely beside the Master and Betty Murdoch on the Downs at Nuthill; himself trotting to and fro between Betty and the noble hound that sired him. He heard Dick Vaughan's long, throbbing whistle, and then the old ...
— Jan - A Dog and a Romance • A. J. Dawson

... on his tongue, No whistle on his lips; But with a quiet thoughtfulness His trusty tool he grips, And, stroke on stroke, keeps hacking out ...
— The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood • Thomas Hood

... well was splattered with blood, so that it could not have seemed suspicious even if the whole of Yakov's family had been stained with blood. To conceal the murder would be agonizing, but for the policeman, who would whistle and smile ironically, to come from the station, for the peasants to arrive and bind Yakov's and Aglaia's hands, and take them solemnly to the district courthouse and from there to the town, while everyone on the way would ...
— The Bishop and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... minute. Or whistle on your fingers like a vulgar street boy," said Lady Ambermere. "I'm ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson

... contented with it. If there be any person, any knot of good company in country or city, in France or elsewhere, resident or in motion, who can like my humour, and whose humours I can like, let them but whistle and I will run and furnish them with essays in flesh ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne

... says so as well as your tongue," said the doctor, with an odd manner of despair. "I have lost—not my occupation, for I never had any!—but I have lost my power over you; and she has got it!—I don't know how to whistle, or I suppose I could take ...
— Say and Seal, Volume I • Susan Warner

... listened to the good dame's stories, told her he knew no fear, that the wind might whistle as it willed for him; and that if he owned such a mansion, that the old pictures should decorate the garrets, where the bats and ...
— Comical People • Unknown

... December, Too happy, happy Tree Thy branches ne'er remember Their green felicity: The north cannot undo them With a sleety whistle through them, Nor frozen thawings glue them ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various

... their line 'twixt the 'Santissima Trinidado' and the 'Beaucenture,' and, as we crossed the Spanisher's wake, so close that our yard-arms grazed her gilded starn, up flashed his Honor's sword, 'Now, lads!' cried he, hailing the guns—and then—why then, afore I'd took my whistle from my lips, the old 'Bully-Sawyer,' as had been so patient, so very patient, let fly wi' every starboard gun as it bore, slap into the great Spanisher's towering starn, and, a moment arter, her larboard guns roared and flamed as her broadside smashed into the 'Beaucenture,' ...
— The Amateur Gentleman • Jeffery Farnol et al

... the document's contents, and at one point his mouth puckered up as though he were going to whistle. ...
— Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist • John T. McIntyre

... a train passing a danger signal during a fog or snowstorm without being seen by the engineer, the Southern Railway Company of France have attached to the locomotive a steam whistle, which is controlled by the signal. The whistle is connected with an insulated metallic brush placed under the engine. Between the rails there is a projecting contact bar, faced with copper, which is swept by the brush when the train passes. This contact piece is connected with the positive ...
— Scientific American Suppl. No. 299 • Various

... in earth holes, and the weather flayed them unmercifully. Then one dark morning, the 13th of April, they assembled silently and lay down in the field, whilst dawn broke with singing of birds, and the shriek and whistle of the barrage. The Division was attacking Fayet, the enemy's last stronghold beyond the city. Before they went over, grey and green coated figures were being brought down. There were many other grey and green figures grotesquely contorted in the brown ribbed fields, ...
— The Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Battalion) - Record of War Service, 1914-1918 • Various

... the door. As he did so Lydia heard Kent's whistle in the back yard. She joined him and the two withdrew to a bench ...
— Lydia of the Pines • Honore Willsie Morrow

... said Charley, quite as pleasantly as if he were not a bad husband, while he found a match and struck it on the sole of his foot. Then, as the gas flared up, he exclaimed, with a low whistle, "By Jove, you're a ...
— Life and Gabriella - The Story of a Woman's Courage • Ellen Glasgow

... are! You will be booked for the Abbaye!" said le Biffon. "You have no other door to budge, if you want to keep on your pins, to yam, wet your whistle, and fake to the end; ...
— Scenes from a Courtesan's Life • Honore de Balzac

... the arrangements for the disbandment of "The Ever-Victorious Army" was completed, the I.G. received a second order directing him to live at Peking. In those days Peking was the very last corner of the world. Eighty miles inland, not even the sound of a friendly ship's whistle could help an exiled imagination cross the gulf to far-away countries, while railways were, of course, ...
— Sir Robert Hart - The Romance of a Great Career, 2nd Edition • Juliet Bredon

... whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to Spanish and Walloon soldiers armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by as many more of their ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... whistle at the news. There was more behind it than appeared; and he knew that Chigmok the murderous half-breed was not the framer of the plot, however, he might be the instrument for its execution. He looked at the girl thoughtfully for a moment, and as he did so a soft look came in the ...
— A Mating in the Wilds • Ottwell Binns

... moved by a sudden impulse to confide. He eyed her in blank astonishment, and Susan saw in it a sort of respect. But he only answered by a long whistle. ...
— Saturday's Child • Kathleen Norris

... shrieks like grotesque maenads; a rougher horseplay finds favour among the youths, occasionally leading to fisticuffs. Thick voices bellow in fragmentary chorus; from every side comes the yell, the cat-call, the ear-rending whistle; and as the bass, the never-ceasing accompaniment, sounds the myriad-footed tramp, tramp along the wooden flooring. A fight, a scene of bestial drunkenness, a tender whispering between two lovers, proceed concurrently ...
— The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories • George Gissing

... and began to whistle cheerfully again. Frances looked at Lisa, and her eyes filled with tears. It ...
— Frances Waldeaux • Rebecca Harding Davis

... bringing home from town the cautious purchase of a child's sack, and crying out in exultation, "It's got tossels on it!" Davie storing singular treasures in a box in the garret—seed-pods which rattled when you shook them; scarlet wood-berries, gay and likely to please; a tin whistle, a rubber ball, a doll with joints, and a folded paper having written on it, "For Croup a poultis of onions and heeting the feet"; and Davie, his importance dropped from him as a garment, coming to put his head ...
— Life at High Tide - Harper's Novelettes • Various

... she lay awake—awake to the child memories of the life that until now had slumbered within her. From her opened bedroom window she could see the dulled blaze of the city's lights, and hear ever and anon the hoarse and warning roar of a steamer's whistle. She raised herself and looked out upon the waters of the harbour. A huge, black mass was moving slowly seaward, showing only her masthead and side-lights—some ocean tramp bound northward. Again the boom of the whistle sounded, and then, by the quickened ...
— The Ebbing Of The Tide - South Sea Stories - 1896 • Louis Becke

... to start Sammy Jay straight for Farmer Brown's dooryard. Of course Bowser wasn't to be seen. Sammy hung around and watched. Twice he saw Farmer Brown's boy come to the door with a worried look on his face and heard him whistle and call for Bowser. Then there wasn't the slightest doubt in Sammy's mind that something had happened ...
— Bowser The Hound • Thornton W. Burgess

... A shrill whistle farther up the street caused her to glance quickly in the direction of the sound. Two young men were hurrying toward her, their boyish faces alight ...
— Marjorie Dean High School Freshman • Pauline Lester

... our fields and meadows is frequently heard giving his high, pleasing, flute-like whistle with its variations; his beautiful yellow breast with its black crescent is not so frequently seen in life, for they are usually quite shy birds. They artfully conceal their nests on the ground among the tall grass of meadows, arching ...
— The Bird Book • Chester A. Reed

... least; and more than you'd believe or I can express. It's too late. And it's as if the train had fairly waited at the station for me without my having had the gumption to know it was there. Now I hear its faint receding whistle miles and miles down the line. What one loses one loses; make no mistake about that. The affair—I mean the affair of life—couldn't, no doubt, have been different for me; for it's at the best a tin mould, either fluted and ...
— The Ambassadors • Henry James

... cities, to see claret on the table. There are differences in the conduct of the trains and in the form of the railway carriages; differences in the despatch and securing of luggage; difference in the railway whistle; difference in the management of the station, until one knows the way about, travelling in America is a continual trial to the temper. Until, for instance, an understanding of the manners and customs ...
— As We Are and As We May Be • Sir Walter Besant

... cliff that formed part of the Castle boundary. In this cliff was a deep cavern, on one side of which was a stout staple with a chain attached, only a portion of which was visible. Here their young host stopped and gave a low whistle. Instantly there was a rattle of the chain, and the next moment all but the Count and Ruby hastily retreated as a great horny head with distended nostrils and lidless eyes was protruded from ...
— In Brief Authority • F. Anstey

... land compared with that which is in the main is but a very small matter." And the King marvelled at her words. Then she pulled out from her bosom two bits of Comorin lign-aloes and, kindling fire in a chafing dish, chose somewhat of them and threw it in, then she whistled a loud whistle and spake words none understood. Thereupon arose a great smoke and she said to the King, who was looking on, "O my lord, arise and hide thyself in a closet, that I may show thee my brother and mother and family, whilst they see thee not; for I design to bung ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 7 • Richard F. Burton

... day after Mr. Mather's hunt, he and all the rest of us learned what had caused the excitement. It was a new invention, the steam whistle of the cars; something we had ...
— The Bark Covered House • William Nowlin

... Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balance of our party that I was returning, and we were met by the three with ...
— The Gods of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... assure you she is as innocent as myself."—"Perhaps," said the squire, "there may be some mistake! pray let us hear Mr Adams's relation."—"With all my heart," answered the justice; "and give the gentleman a glass to wet his whistle before he begins. I know how to behave myself to gentlemen as well as another. Nobody can say I have committed a gentleman since I have been in the commission." Adams then began the narrative, in which, though he was very prolix, he was uninterrupted, ...
— Joseph Andrews Vol. 1 • Henry Fielding

... had he said, when on the mountain's brow We saw the giant shepherd stalk before His following flock, and leading to the shore: A monstrous bulk, deform'd, depriv'd of sight; His staff a trunk of pine, to guide his steps aright. His pond'rous whistle from his neck descends; His woolly care their pensive lord attends: This only solace his hard fortune sends. Soon as he reach'd the shore and touch'd the waves, From his bor'd eye the gutt'ring blood he laves: He gnash'd his teeth, and groan'd; thro' seas he strides, ...
— The Aeneid • Virgil

... then wearied in all my limbs, and willingly disposed to sleep, I laid myself down on a green hollow on the banks of the Gryffe, where the sun shone with a pleasing warmth for so late a period of the year. I was not, however, many minutes stretched on the grass when I heard a shrill whistle of some one nigh at hand, and presently also the barking of a dog. From the kindly experience I had received of Sir George Maxwell's care this occasioned at first no alarm; but on looking up I beheld at some ...
— Ringan Gilhaize - or The Covenanters • John Galt

... there were nothing but minor movements of the troops. The railroads up to Chattanooga were repaired, and the first "cracker train" that entered the place was greeted with many hearty cheers by our troops in the town, as the shrill scream of its whistle woke the echoes among the surrounding mountains, so long silent to this music. The roads into and through East Tennessee were repaired to ...
— The Army of the Cumberland • Henry M. Cist

... be nearly twelve, Kendrick knew. He couldn't look at his watch, for it as well as himself was invisible. Indeed, even as they stood there, poised for the plunge, a faint whistle rose ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930 • Various

... the three of us, succumbed first. I heard his breath whistle stertorously and, glancing at him, saw that he was in a coma. In a moment Stanley had joined him ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science September 1930 • Various

... a shrill, tremulous whistle, and immediately from the wood several rods behind them came running the oddest looking little girl anyone could have met in ...
— The Daughter of the Chieftain - The Story of an Indian Girl • Edward S. Ellis

... dust until he marched, soldier-wise, in a cloud of it, that rose and grimed his moist face and added to the heavy, brown powder upon the wayside weeds and flowers, whistling a queer, tuneless thing, which yet contained definite sequences—the whistle of a bird rather than a boy—approached Johnny Trumbull, aged ten, small of his age, but accounted by his ...
— The Copy-Cat and Other Stories • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... pleasant to be met at a station, to meet one familiar face, not to find oneself amid a crowd of strangers. Very nearly did I miss the train; my foot was on the footboard when the guard blew his whistle. "Just fancy if I had missed the train," I said, and settling myself in my seat I added, "now, let us study the landscape; such an opportunity as ...
— Memoirs of My Dead Life • George Moore

... evening was broken by the roar of a locomotive whistle, and an instant later the wheels of the train smoked and screeched against the chattering brake shoes. In the cab ahead the handle of the air valve was slammed into the ...
— Lady Luck • Hugh Wiley

... cushions. Roger set the radar scanner and strapped himself in on the radar bridge. Connel slumped into the second pilot's chair and took over the controls of the ship, strapping himself in, while Tom beside him did the same. The whine of the pumps was now a shrill whistle that drowned out all other sounds, and the great ship bucked under the force of the thrust ...
— Danger in Deep Space • Carey Rockwell

... A whistle sounded outside, the gate clanged shut. A quick, light step ran up the walk, the door opened noisily, and a man rushed in. He seemed to bring into that hopeless place all the ...
— A Spinner in the Sun • Myrtle Reed

... who shoots the buffalo lives better than the man who boards at the Graham House." He said,—"You can sleep near the railroad, and never be disturbed: Nature knows very well what sounds are worth attending to, and has made up her mind not to hear the railroad-whistle. But things respect the devout mind, and a mental ecstasy was never interrupted." He noted, what repeatedly befell him, that, after receiving from a distance a rare plant, he would presently find the same in his own haunts. And those ...
— Excursions • Henry D. Thoreau

... standing in his stirrups and leaning slightly forward, peering intently about him. The figures were in silhouette against the sky, but nobody ever fooled me as to a horse. It was the Morgan stallion, and the rider was Tim Westmore. Just as the realization came to me, Tim uttered a low, impatient whistle. ...
— The Killer • Stewart Edward White

... it; As being loth to wear it out, And therefore bore it not about, Unless on holy-days, or so, As men their best apparel do. 50 Beside, 'tis known he could speak GREEK As naturally as pigs squeek; That LATIN was no more difficile, Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle: Being rich in both, he never scanted 55 His bounty unto such as wanted; But much of either would afford To many, that had not one word. For Hebrew roots, although they're found To flourish most in barren ground, 60 He had such plenty, as suffic'd To make some think him circumcis'd; ...
— Hudibras • Samuel Butler

... yonder; or else, to say the truth, I had been here sooner. [Thank my stars, thought I, thou didst.] A piece of powdered beef was upon the table, at the sign of the Castle, where I stopt to inquire for this house: and so, thoff I only intended to wet my whistle, I could not help eating. So shall only taste of your ale; for the beef ...
— Clarissa, Volume 6 (of 9) - The History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson

... was on before the temple. It had rained from the early morning and the day came to its end. Brighter than all the gladness of the crowd was the bright smile of a girl who bought for a farthing a whistle of palm leaf. The shrill joy of that whistle floated above all laughter and noise. An endless throng of people came and jostled together. The road was muddy, the river in flood, the field under water in ceaseless rain. Greater than all the troubles of the ...
— The Gardener • Rabindranath Tagore

... his comrade. "They are the four winds; and when they whistle, down falls the ripest. But others can shake besides the winds, as I will show thee if thou hast any ...
— Jackanapes, Daddy Darwin's Dovecot and Other Stories • Juliana Horatio Ewing

... him. Wish BALFOUR, GORSTY, and WOLFFY were here, and WOLFFY better than when I left him. First-rate place to pick up health. Every morning I climb the maintop-gallant, plunge into the ocean, and out again in the blowing of a Bo'sen's whistle. I dive, grapple with fresh lobster, bring him up by the tail, and before he knows where he is, he is boiled and on my table, hot, for breakfast. Excellent lobster! But how he changes colour at being caught ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101. July 4, 1891 • Various

... who has sore throat. Do not kiss or come near to such a person. Do not drink from the same cup, blow the same whistle, or put his pen or pencil in your mouth. Whenever a child has sore throat and fever, and especially when this is accompanied by a rash on the body, the child and attendant should immediately be isolated until ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... quarrelling about?" cried Salemina. "Come, Penelope, get your wrap. Mrs. Beresford, isn't she charming in her new Liberty gown? If that New York wit had seen her, he couldn't have said, 'If that is Liberty, give me Death!' Yes, Francesca, you must wear something over your shoulders. Whistle for two four-wheelers, ...
— Penelope's English Experiences • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... entreating look from Elsie's soft, brown eyes, he stopped short and turning away, began to whistle carelessly, while Vi, putting her small arms about Eddie's neck, said, "Phil Ross, you shouldn't 'sult my brother so, 'cause he wouldn't 'tend to hurt papa; no, not for all the world;" Harold chiming in, "'Course my Eddie wouldn't!" and Bruno, whom he was petting and stroking ...
— Elsie's Motherhood • Martha Finley

... the reporter's room. She plainly belonged to the immigrant section of Smelter City. The news-editor never took his eyes from Bat's copy. They were eyes made for drilling holes into the motives behind facts. Bat emitted a whistle ...
— The Freebooters of the Wilderness • Agnes C. Laut

... for their chorus; nor the alarm Of the loud war-whoop to dispel the charm; Nor the soliloquy of the hermit owl, Exhaling all his solitary soul, The dim though large-eyed winged anchorite, Who peals his dreary Paean o'er the night; But a loud, long, and naval whistle, shrill As ever started through a sea-bird's bill; And then a pause, and then a hoarse "Hillo! 430 Torquil, my boy! what cheer? Ho! brother, ho!" "Who hails?" cried Torquil, following with his eye The sound. "Here's one," ...
— The Works of Lord Byron - Poetry, Volume V. • Lord Byron

... gos-hawk opened his eyes a shade wider. "Beshrew me, lady," he said to himself, "but thou talkest as if thou hadst wings"; but he knew his duty was to act and not to talk, so with one merry whistle he spread his wings, and flew away ...
— Tales From Scottish Ballads • Elizabeth W. Grierson

... speak to you; but there are other ways of seeing each other. For instance, every evening at five o-clock precisely, I might pass along the Rue Pigalle, and warn you of my presence by such a signal as this: 'Pi-ouit!'" So saying he gave vent to the peculiar call, half whistle, half ejaculation, which is familiar to the Parisian working-classes. "Then," he resumed, "you might come down and I would tell you the news; besides, I might often help ...
— Baron Trigault's Vengeance - Volume 2 (of 2) • Emile Gaboriau

... found a real father after so many years, a father who understood boys and who was soon as good and true a pal as his mother was. Bill commenced to whistle when he remembered up to this part, and then he laughed to himself when he recollected a couple of old lady aunts who had offered to take him to bring up, because they were sure that Major Sherman, being a soldier and no doubt unused to ...
— Battling the Clouds - or, For a Comrade's Honor • Captain Frank Cobb

... plumage was orange and white, the crest and wing-feathers being tipped with bright blue. Nor was he so large as the Guardian, nor so dignified in demeanor. Indeed, his expression was rather merry and roguish, and as he saw the strangers he gave a short, sharp whistle ...
— Policeman Bluejay • L. Frank Baum

... "I ain't for callin' it that. I was workin' overtime, an' I guess I was tired out some. I worked seventeen years in them mills, an' I've took notice that most of the accidents happens just before whistle-blow.* I'm willin' to bet that more accidents happens in the hour before whistle-blow than in all the rest of the day. A man ain't so quick after workin' steady for hours. I've seen too many of 'em cut up an' gouged ...
— The Iron Heel • Jack London

... having seen a great brawl with bloody heads. A gnawing rat, a window accidentally left open through the night, and some misplaced, not instantaneously discovered object, are the ingredients of a burglary. A man who sees a rather quick train, hears a shrill blowing of the whistle, and sees a great cloud, may think himself the witness of a wreck. All these phenomena, moreover, reveal us things as we have been in the habit of seeing them. I repeat, here also, that the photographic apparatus, in so far as it does not possess a refracting lens, shows things much more truly ...
— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... Zoie, taking Jimmy's acquiescence as a matter of course; and she thrust the letter into the pocket of Jimmy's ulster. "Now, when you get back with the baby," she continued, "don't come in all of a sudden; just wait outside and whistle. You CAN WHISTLE, can't you?" she asked ...
— Baby Mine • Margaret Mayo

... the belt of scrub was not of great extent; Lizzie had already reached its edge, and was peering cautiously through, and we were struggling along, each after his own fashion, when bang went a carbine, the bullet of which we distinctly heard whistle over our heads, and turning round we got a glimpse of Jack, the roughrider, hung up in a vine, one of whose tendrils had fired off his weapon; and had just time to hear him exclaim, "If I'd only been mounted, this wouldn't have happened," before we broke cover, and all ...
— Australian Search Party • Charles Henry Eden

... fellow in the middle of the street —a wandering minstrel, well known in Preston by the name of "Whistling Jack." There he stood, warbling and waving his band, and looking from side to side,—in vain. At last I got him to whistle the "Flowers of Edinburgh." He did it, vigorously; and earned his penny well. But even "Whistling Jack" complained of the times. He said Preston folk had "no taste for music." But he assured me the time would come when there would be a monument ...
— Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine • Edwin Waugh

... hair combed down on his forehead sat behind the desk. I knew he was writing society items, for a young lady's slipper, a piece of cake, a fan, a half emptied bottle of cocktail, a bunch of roses, and a police whistle lay ...
— Rolling Stones • O. Henry

... knelt beside him, freed him from the net, and, bending nearer, gazed earnestly into his unconscious features. Still gazing, she drew a postman's whistle from her satchel, set it to her lips, and was about to summon the student on duty at the distant gate to help bring in the quarry, when something about the features of the recumbent ...
— The Gay Rebellion • Robert W. Chambers

... found you out, old fellow," said Vizard, merrily; "but you need not look as if you had robbed a church. Hang it all! a fellow has got a right to gamble, if he chooses. Anyway, he paid for his whistle; for ...
— The Woman-Hater • Charles Reade

... is heard at a distance. ALICE listens eagerly. As the whistle dies away and is not repeated, her ...
— Miss Civilization - A Comedy in One Act • Richard Harding Davis

... awkward playing with the fingers in speaking in public. These habits are began through bashfulness, and seem rather at first designed to engage the attention in part, and thus prevent the disagreeable ideas of mauvaise hont; as timorous boys whistle, when they are obliged to walk in the dark; and as it is sometimes necessary to employ raw soldiers in perpetual manoeuvres, as they advance to the ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... laughed in a sickly fashion. "It was your deal all right, and you-all dole them right, too. Well, I ain't kicking. I'm like the player in that poker game. It was your deal, and you-all had a right to do your best. And you done it—cleaned me out slicker'n a whistle." ...
— Burning Daylight • Jack London

... fell upon the mountain and the miners when she was gone, and Curdie did not whistle for a whole week. As for his verses, there was no occasion to make any now. He had made them only to drive away the goblins, and they were all gone—a good riddance—only the princess was gone too! He would rather have had things as they were, except ...
— The Princess and the Curdie • George MacDonald

... is a whistle, made from an eagle's bone. It is generally fancifully carved, and, when sounded, makes a noise that perfectly resembles that made by a young one in calling its mother. So perfect is the imitation of the bleating of a fawn, ...
— The Young Trail Hunters • Samuel Woodworth Cozzens

... house. "Follow him!" shouted the Count—"a hundred ounces for his captor!" And, stimulated by this princely reward, the eager domestics ran, like hounds after a deer, on the track of the student, who soon heard the shouts of his enemies, and the shrill whistle of the serenos, around and on all ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847 • Various

... two species (see August BIRDS) are as different as their habits, those of the Wood Pewee being peculiarly plaintive—a sort of wailing pe-e-e-e-i, wee, the first syllable emphasized and long drawn out, and the tone, a clear, plaintive, wiry whistle, strikingly different from the cheerful, emphatic ...
— Birds Illustrated by Colour Photography, Vol II. No. 4, October, 1897 • Various

... I guess we can make up any time we lose," the brakeman said. He reached up and pulled the cord that ran overhead in the car. There was a hissing of air, the locomotive whistle blew sharply, and the train came slowly to a stop. The brakeman had pulled an air whistle in the engine cab, and the engineer, hearing it, and knowing the train ought to stop, had turned ...
— The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook • Laura Lee Hope

... and it befell me thus. I was waiting very carelessly, being now a little desperate, at the entrance to the glen, instead of watching through my sight-hole, as the proper practice was. Suddenly a ball went by me, with a whizz and whistle, passing through my hat and sweeping it away all folded up. My soft hat fluttered far down the stream, before I had time to go after it, and with the help of both wind and water, was fifty yards gone in a moment. At this I had just enough mind left to shrink back very suddenly, and lurk very ...
— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

... which, like its accompanying, inarticulate ejaculation, might have been taken to indicate either satisfaction or disgust. He ignored Kirkwood altogether, for the time being, and presently produced a small, bright object, which, applied to his lips, proved to be a boatswain's whistle. He sounded two blasts, ...
— The Black Bag • Louis Joseph Vance

... to whistle, too. Ned says I can pipe higher and carry a tune better than anyone he knows!" declared Ruth, and aunt and grand-niece felt ...
— The Blue Birds' Winter Nest • Lillian Elizabeth Roy

... children playing, and the wagons passing on a road near by, and once we heard the whistle of a railway train—but no one came near ...
— Three Times and Out • Nellie L. McClung

... his head to have me brought back to Algiers, and enrolled among his Musicians as a Player upon the Cymbals. I declare that although able to troll out a Stave now and then, I could not so much as Whistle "God save the King;" but I managed to clash my two Saucepan-Lids or Cymbals together and to make a Noise, which is all the Turks care for, they having no proper Ear for Music. As one of his Highness's Musicians, I was dressed very grandly, with a monstrous ...
— The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 3 of 3 • George Augustus Sala

... morning, and as some four thousand rivets are fastened into four thousand hoops in the course of one day, it will be seen that the matter was duly considered. The stray spark from a feminine eye had kindled such a fierce fire in his heart that by the time the six o'clock whistle blew the conflagration threw a rosy glow over ...
— Miss Mink's Soldier and Other Stories • Alice Hegan Rice

... whistle sang like a bird when he blew, Then he twinkled and put it down. "And where are you going," he said, "you two? Are you going ...
— Zodiac Town - The Rhymes of Amos and Ann • Nancy Byrd Turner

... cartloads of wood upon the fire, and stirred and poked away till they were wet through with perspiration, and our chimney began to whistle and sing, that it was a pleasure to hear it. We were just entering the Ohio, the Washington close upon our heels, when old Lambton and Emily came running upon deck ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845 • Various

... that nobody else is fit to trust with this undertaking. Cordova failed; Grijalva failed; Cortes will succeed or leave his bones on the field of honor. No sooner are we fairly out of harbor than Velasquez tries to whistle us back. He might as well blow his trumpets to the sea-gulls. All Cortes wanted was a start. You will see—either the Governor will die or be recalled while we are gone, or we shall come back so covered with gold and renown that ...
— Days of the Discoverers • L. Lamprey

... on a while longer, and then veered short to the left. 'This boat sails well,' said Waring, 'and that is your skiff behind I see. Did you whistle ...
— Castle Nowhere • Constance Fenimore Woolson

... and in the summer time this gay sheet of dark blue sparkling waves had many small yachts, fishing smacks, and row-boats of all sizes and descriptions skimming about on its surface. In the spring a large fishing trade was done here, and then the steamers whistle? and shrieked, and disturbed the primitive harmony of the place. But by midsummer the great shoals of mackerel went away, and with them the dark picturesque hookers, and the ugly steamers, and the inhabitants were once more left to their sleepy, ...
— The Honorable Miss - A Story of an Old-Fashioned Town • L. T. Meade

... (but refused to show me), consisted of a butterfly-cocoon rattle, an eagle-bone whistle, and a feather headband. "I don't really do nothing but help nature," he said. When I replied that only some people know how to help nature he was gratified and smiled. "Oh well, it's all psychological ...
— Washo Religion • James F. Downs

... times annoyed by her presence; in that fatal place she went through paroxysms of jealous impatience, angry desires to destroy the building,—a living death of untold miseries. Lemulquinier became to her a species of barometer: if she heard him whistle as he laid the breakfast-table or the dinner-table, she guessed that Balthazar's experiments were satisfactory, and there were prospects of a coming success; if, on the other hand, the man were morose and gloomy, she looked at ...
— The Alkahest • Honore de Balzac

... tresses. Others moved Careless, in half disdain, nor urged pursuit; Yet ever and anon would shriek, and miss The pellet, while the bold Sir Referee Skipt in avoidance. From the factions came The cry of voices shrilling woman-wise, The clash of stick on stick, the muffled shin, The sudden whistle, and the murmurous note Of mutual disaffection. Otherwhere The myriad coolie chortled, knightly palms Clapped, and the whole vale echoed to the noise Of ladies, who in session to the West Sat with the light behind ...
— Rhymes of the East and Re-collected Verses • John Kendall (AKA Dum-Dum)

... Teddy asked regretfully. They went into the pushing and crowding of the streets; heard the shrill trill of the crossing policeman's whistle again; caught a glimpse of Broadway's lights, fanning lower and higher, and as the big signs rippled up ...
— Martie the Unconquered • Kathleen Norris

... laughed again, and began to whistle very low—not, I fancy, for want of thought, but as a sort of accompaniment thereto, for ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... the sun makes evening atonement for his absence, shone and sparkled, danced and glowed from the windmill to the water-meads. It reopened the flowers, and drew fragrant answer from the meadow-sweet and the bay-leaved willow. It made the birds sing, and the ploughboy whistle, and the old folk toddle into their gardens to smell the herbs. It cherished silent satisfaction on the bronze face of Rufus resting on his paws, and lay over Master Swift's wan brow like the aureole ...
— Jan of the Windmill • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... I had never heard him whistle before. The younger Coretti did the same, as he went along. That little fellow knows how to make everything with his jack-knife a finger's length long,—mill-wheels, forks, squirts; and he insisted on carrying the other boys' things, and he was loaded down until he was dripping with ...
— Cuore (Heart) - An Italian Schoolboy's Journal • Edmondo De Amicis

... live and sow and cultivate grain. But two creatures live here which betray the presence of man—the wasp and the blackbird; both of which come after the ripe fruit which they passionately love. Where the great wasps' nests hang from the trees, and where the blackbird's alluring whistle sounds in the hedges, there must be fruit. Timar followed the blackbird. After he had pushed through the prickly whitethorn and the privet-bushes which tore his clothes, ...
— Timar's Two Worlds • Mr Jkai

... that tune is, Mr. Smallweed?' he adds, after breaking off to whistle one, accompanied on the table with ...
— Charles Dickens and Music • James T. Lightwood

... could hear and was listening, even while studying Loring's face. Suddenly a faint gleam shot across the darkness overhead. Glancing quickly upward, both men, deep in shadow, saw that the eastern window on the southern side was lighted up. Out in the alleyway, low yet clear, a whistle sounded—twice. Then came cautious footsteps down the back stairs. The bolt of the rear door was carefully drawn. A woman's form, tall and shrouded in a long cloak, came swiftly forth and sped down the garden ...
— Warrior Gap - A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68. • Charles King

... but with such a muffled note that it seems to come from far away. A hurried second bell soon follows, then a third and the guard's whistle. A minute passes in profound silence; the van does not move, it stands still, but vague sounds begin to come from beneath it, like the crunch of snow under sledge-runners; the van begins to shake and the sounds cease. Silence ...
— The Schoolmistress and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... all right," asserted the gentleman from Kansas City. "One of 'em tried to keep company with our Caroline, but I wouldn't stand for it. He was a crackin' good shinny player, and he could lead them cotillion-dances blowin' a whistle and callin', 'All right, Up!' or something, like a car-starter,—but, 'Tell me something good about him,' I says to an old friend of his family. Well, he hemmed and hawed—he was a New York gentleman, and says he, 'I don't know whether I could make you understand ...
— The Spenders - A Tale of the Third Generation • Harry Leon Wilson

... snow-rills grow into gullying torrents, and the jar of a passing train sets in motion a loose boulder, which, with ever-increasing speed, at last hurls itself upon the track. Even the echoes of the locomotive whistle will in some states of the atmosphere bring disaster. Tiny snow crystals are jarred by the sound-waves; these start on a downward career, gathering volume and speed until a mighty ...
— Chatterbox, 1906 • Various

... cried Sunny Boy, trying to whistle, and not doing it very well because it is difficult to run and pull a sled and whistle, ...
— Sunny Boy and His Playmates • Ramy Allison White

... now, though the stern and watchful Miss Hall put a quick stop to a certain tendency toward shoulder work. Tyler possessed what is known as a rhythm sense. An expert whistler is generally a natural dancer. Stella Kamps had always waited for the sound of his cheerful whistle as he turned the corner of Vernon Street. High, clear, sweet, true, he would approach his top note like a Tettrazini until, just when you thought he could not possibly reach that dizzy eminence he did reach it, and held it, ...
— Cheerful—By Request • Edna Ferber

... rolling car reveals the cause: two carbines are levelled at him, and flat he throws himself on his face and rolls to one side amid derisive laughter from the strikers themselves. A little farther on a knot of surly rioters are gathered on the track. No warning whistle sounds and the clanging bell is too far to the rear to attract their attention. "Out of the way there!" is the blunt, roughly-spoken order. No time this for standing on ceremony. Vengeful and scowling ...
— Foes in Ambush • Charles King

... fire on San Juan Hill became almost unbearable, some of the Rough Riders began to swear. Colonel Wood, with the wisdom of a good leader, called out, amid the whistle of the Mauser ...
— An Iron Will • Orison Swett Marden

... and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound, Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake, All intervolved and spreading wide, Like water-dimples down a tide Where ripple ripple overcurls And eddy into eddy whirls; A press of hurried notes that run So fleet they scarce are more than one, ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... marks of sorrow and sadness while his heart leaped for joy, for no man living took a greater pleasure than he to promote all broils. The Duc d'Orleans personated hurry and, passion in speaking to the Queen, yet would whistle half an hour together with the utmost indolence. The Marechal de Villeroy put on gaiety, the better to make his court to the Prime Minister, though he privately owned to me, with tears in his eyes, that he saw the State was upon the brink of ruin. Beautru and Nogent acted ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... the hand of a golden-haired maiden. Golden-haired maiden, be true to him, be true! Cheerily, cheerily, bridegroom, today! The storm-wind howls wedding-music, the ocean dances to the tune.—Hui! Hark! His whistle sounds. Captain, are you back again?—Hui! Hoist the sail! Your bride, say, where is she?—Hui! Off, to sea! Captain, captain, you have no luck in love! Ha, ha, ha! Blow, storm-wind, howl away! No damage can you do to our sails! Satan has charmed them, they will not rend ...
— The Wagnerian Romances • Gertrude Hall

... ever go to modern Japan (nobody worth bothering about, I mean), because modern Japan has made the huge mistake of going to the other people: becoming a common empire. The mountain has condescended to Mahomet; and henceforth Mahomet will whistle for it when ...
— Alarms and Discursions • G. K. Chesterton

... hoot of the whistle came ringing up the pass, wheels screamed discordantly, and the pines below flitted towards them a trifle more slowly. Then, as they swung rocking round the face of a crag and a cluster of wooden buildings rose to view, Deringham came out upon the platform. He was a tall, ...
— Alton of Somasco • Harold Bindloss

... the weeds, my boy? Are you hoeing your row neat and clean? Are you going straight At a hustling gait? Are you cutting out all that is mean? Do you whistle and sing as you toil along? Are you finding your work a delight? If you do it this way You will gladden the day, And your row will be ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two • Various

... crept down the steep path, doing everything possible to avoid a noise; but suddenly the sound of a peculiar whistle sounded from somewhere below, and there were a movement and a thrill of dismay through all the ranks; for surely it was a signal ...
— French and English - A Story of the Struggle in America • Evelyn Everett-Green

... hill the adventurer stopped to pant and surveyed the undulating thickly wooded hills stretching away on every side of him. He drew a silver whistle from his bosom and gave with it three penetrating signals which re-echoed from among the distant mountains. But it was only an echo, only the note of the whistle that he heard, he waited in vain for anything else. All his accomplices ...
— The Poor Plutocrats • Maurus Jokai

... Swedish-German stuff, after his kind; and tragically ill bested now at last! This is his exit he is now making,—still in a consistent manner. It is fifteen years now since he waded ashore at Copenhagen, and first heard the bullets whistle round him. Since which time, what a course has he run; crashing athwart all manner of ranked armies, diplomatic combinations, right onward, like a cannon-ball; tearing off many solemn wigs in those Northern parts, and scattering them upon the winds,—even as he did his own ...
— History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Volume IV. (of XXI.) - Frederick The Great—Friedrich's Apprenticeship, First Stage—1713-1728 • Thomas Carlyle

... When you get it on, come back here and wait until it has time to cook. Stop a minute, Tom. Let's understand each other. If the one on the look-out sees Indians, he must let the others know; but it won't do to holler. Let me see. Can you whistle like ...
— The Big Brother - A Story of Indian War • George Cary Eggleston

... shepherds That whistle through the glen, I'll tell ye of a secret That courtiers dinna ken: What is the greatest bliss That the tongue o' man can name? 'Tis to woo a bonnie lassie When the kye comes hame. When the kye comes hame, When the kye comes hame, 'Tween the gloamin and the mirk, When ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various

... through the heart. As they looked at the sight, Cockatoo broke from those who held him, and, throwing himself on his master, howled and wept as though his heart would break. At the same moment there came a derisive whistle from The Firefly, and they saw the great tramp steamer slowly moving down stream, increasing her speed with almost every revolution of the screw. Braddock had been ...
— The Green Mummy • Fergus Hume

... grovelling attitude, while they tied him began to indulge in his old vice of gabbing. He evidently wished to make his finale more effective than his previous cowardly role, and perhaps was strengthening his fortitude with a speech, as we sometimes do of dark nights with a whistle. ...
— The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth • George Alfred Townsend

... Hampton pier Embark his royalty;[2] and his brave fleet With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning: Play with your fancies; and in them behold Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing; Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give To sounds confus'd; behold the threaden sails, Borne with the invisible and creeping wind, Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea, Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think You stand upon the rivage,[3] and behold A city on the inconstant billows dancing; For so ...
— King Henry the Fifth - Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre • William Shakespeare

... of a tin whistle accompanied with a rub-a-dub-dub of a kettledrum that has known its best days, and whose sound is as doleful as that of the whistle. I know what is coming, and, though I have seen it many times, it has still a fascination ...
— London's Underworld • Thomas Holmes

... a bicycle and carrying a light valise, was slipping into a back street out of the Old Square. Putting her burden down at the pavement's edge, she blew a whistle. A hansom-cab appeared, and a man in ragged clothes, who seemed to spring out of the pavement, took hold of her valise. His lean, unshaven face was full of ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... funny when you want to, papa," replied Marian. "As we came through Pittsburg this morning I bought a paper that told about 'Stop, Look, Listen.' But Allen won't mind if you do whistle to his father to keep off ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson

... family. The charm of his song is its clearness of tone and deliberateness of utterance. It is calm as the morning, finished, complete, and almost the only bird song that can be perfectly imitated by a human whistle. I never shared the enthusiasm of some of my fellow bird-lovers for the sparrows till I knew the white-throat and learned to love the dear little song sparrow. It is unfortunate that the song of the former has been translated into a word so unworthy as "peabody," and that the name ...
— Upon The Tree-Tops • Olive Thorne Miller

... uneasy, as he looked up listening, with one thin finger marking the place on the page he was reading. Cardo was later than usual, and not until he had heard his son's familiar firm step and whistle did he drop once more into the deep interest ...
— By Berwen Banks • Allen Raine

... one had gone to bed, the fire whistle sounded. Rosemary raised up in bed, shivering with excitement. She counted the strokes. One-two—one-two—one-two-three-four. Reaching for her dressing gown at the foot of the bed, she seized it and rushed for the door. Sarah's door opened at the same moment and the two little figures met in ...
— Rosemary • Josephine Lawrence

... you—indeed I didn't!" The little breathless voice was like a child's penny whistle blown ignerantly. "Just fancy!— meeting you like this! Hot, isn't it, although it's only February. Yes.... Hot indeed. I didn't know you ...
— The Cathedral • Hugh Walpole

... same moment that the train was nearly due. He sprang to the rock, and exerted his utmost strength to dislodge it. He could move it slightly, but it was too heavy to remove. He was still exerting his strength to the utmost when the whistle of the locomotive was heard. Robert was filled with horror, as he realized the peril of the approaching train, and his powerlessness to ...
— Brave and Bold • Horatio Alger, Jr.

... was in his favor. Walking at random he all at once heard a boy's whistle. He quickened his steps, and almost directly, to his great delight, he recognized, sauntering along, the very lad he had taken out in the ...
— The Erie Train Boy • Horatio Alger

... days afterward the Bald-faced Kid picked up the overnight entry slip and there found something which caused him to emit a long, low whistle. ...
— Old Man Curry - Race Track Stories • Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan

... is ended!" he remarked to the baron. Then he uttered a low whistle, like that which he had given a few hours before, to warn Marie-Anne of ...
— The Honor of the Name • Emile Gaboriau

... A faint whistle made him start. He leant over towards the staircase that climbed the terrace, a staircase cut out of the rock, by which people coming from the side of the frontier often entered his grounds so as to avoid the bend ...
— The Frontier • Maurice LeBlanc

... mill whistle began to blow. Beneath the noise he could hear the machinery beginning to run down. From all directions men came. They converged in the central alley, hundreds of them. In a moment Bob was caught up in their stream, and borne with them ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White

... backwards, driven over as it were by a broad-bladed spear. As I struggled to my knees, I saw the savage mob in full flight, chased by a dozen blue-jackets, who halted and ran back to where we were, in obedience to a shrill whistle. Then—it was all more misty to me—two strong arms were passed under mine; I saw Smith treated in the same way; and, pursued by the crowd howling like demons, we were trotted at the double down the street to the wharf, ...
— Blue Jackets - The Log of the Teaser • George Manville Fenn

... ask'd the first that past him by; A cow-boy stopt his whistle to reply. "Why, I've a mistress coming home, that's all, They're playing Meg's diversion ...
— Wild Flowers - Or, Pastoral and Local Poetry • Robert Bloomfield

... a trench except in the dark, or, indeed, of moving about anywhere near there except at night. Nowadays one can visit all one's trenches in broad daylight, and never care a rap for the occasional bullets which whistle over the comfortable deep communication trenches; but up to the spring of 1915 it ...
— The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade - August 1914 to March 1915 • Edward Lord Gleichen

... more shooting, and there was no need for it. By sheer weight of blows the whites kept the enemy from climbing through the windows, and so long as the windows were not stormed, the iron house was safe to them. And presently one of the head-men blew his boatswain's whistle, and the attack ...
— A Master of Fortune • Cutcliffe Hyne



Words linked to "Whistle" :   move, signal, signalize, whistle buoy, sign, intercommunicate, displace, factory whistle, whistle stop, fipple flute, go, wind, wind instrument, wolf-whistle, locomote, signaling, sound, acoustic device, signalise, signaling device, fipple pipe, travel, communicate, tin whistle, recorder, vertical flute



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