whistler
(ˈhwɪs(ə)lə(r))
Forms: see whistle v.; also 6 Sc. quhuslar, 7 whisler.
[OE. hwistlere, f. hwistlian, whistle v.: see -er1.]
A person, animal, or thing that whistles.
1. a. One who sounds, or plays upon, a whistle or pipe; a flute-player, piper, or fifer. Now rare.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 23 Þa se hælend com into þæs ealdres healle, & ᵹeseah hwistleras. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 475 With wederes and with wondres, he warneth vs with a whistlere. 1538 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 399 In primis to iiij trumpetouris, iiij tabernouris, and iij quhislaris. 1538 in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. 292* Debursat upoun þe Trumpetouris Tabernaris Quhuslaris and vtheris. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 30 The whistler with his iron Pipe encouraging the Marriners. 1844 Mrs. Browning Pain in Pleas. 5, I desired the art Of the Greek whistler, who..Could lure those insect swarms from orange-trees. |
b. One who whistles with the lips.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 525/1 Whystelare, ossinus, ossinator. 1542 [see bench-whistler]. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. xiii. lxxxii, But, hark, 'tis late; the Whislers knock from Plough. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 145 ¶4 Whistlers, Singers and common Orators. 1850 James Old Oak Chest xxxviii, He was a great whistler, even when his thoughts were busiest. 1879 All Year Round 4 Jan. 184/1 He was a good whistler, and knew it. |
c. slang. A keeper of a ‘whistling-shop’; an unlicensed spirit-seller.
| 1821 W. T. Moncrieff Tom & Jerry iii. v, The whistler, otherwise the spirit-merchant. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xlv, ‘Are these rooms never searched..?’ said Mr. Pickwick. ‘Cert'nly they are, sir,’ replied Sam; ‘but the turnkey knows beforehand, and gives the word to the wistlers, and you may wistle for it wen you go to look.’ |
2. a. A bird that whistles.
Applied locally to various species, as the golden-eye or whistle-wing (see whistle n. 4; also whistler-duck), the widgeon, the ring-ouzel, the lapwing. Also spec. used of some nocturnal bird having a whistling note believed to be of ill omen: when flying in a flock, called the seven whistlers.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 36 The Whistler shrill, that who so heares, doth dy. 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi iv. ii, Hearke, now euery thing is still, The Schritch-Owle, and the whistler shrill, Call vpon our Dame, aloud, And bid her quickly don her shrowd. 1782 Pennant Gen. Syn. Birds I. ii. 443 Whistler O[riole]... Inhabits St. Domingo, where it is called Siffleur. 1848 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 19 The note of a whistler-duck. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wildfowl xxix. 281 Local names: butter-box, butter-ball, and little whistler. 1883 Leisure Hour Dec. 733/1 Immense flocks of birds were flying about uttering a doleful shrill whistling..they were what were called the ‘Seven Whistlers’, and..considered a sign of some great calamity. 1884 Coues Key N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 704 Clangula glaucium. Golden-eye. Whistler. Garrot. |
b. [tr. Canadian Fr. siffleur.] A large species of marmot (Marmota caligata) found in mountainous parts of N. America; = siffleur.
| 1703 tr. Lahontan's New Voy. N.-Amer. I. 110 [We saw] little beasts called Siffleurs or Whistlers. 1820 Harmon Jrnl. 427 A small animal, found only on the Rocky Mountain, denominated, by the Natives, Quis-qui-su, or whistlers, from the noise which they frequently make, and always when surprised. 1829 J. Richardson etc. Fauna Boreali-Amer. i. 150 The Whistler inhabits the Rocky Mountains from latitude 45° to 62°. 1866 J. K. Lord Naturalist in Vancouver Island II. 195 The Redskin is the whistler's most implacable enemy; he never tires of hunting and trapping the little animal. 1912 Canad. Alpine Jrnl. (Special No.) 28 The big hoary marmots are well named ‘whistlers’ by all mountain climbing people of the Canadian Rockies. 1973 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 4 Feb. 4/3 Here we saw ptarmigan and heard the marmots, or whistlers. |
c. = whistle-fish: see whistle n. 4.
| 1864 Couch Brit. Fishes III. 105 Three-bearded Rockling. Whistler. Whistle-fish..Motella vulgaris. |
d. A broken-winded horse that breathes hard with a shrill sound.
| 1824 Percivall Vet. Art xxxiv. ii. 243 We hear of pipers, wheezers, whistlers, high-blowers, and grunters: a cant in common use among our horse-dealers and horse-men, of the vulgar meaning of which no professional man should show ignorance. 1829 Sporting Mag. (N.S.) XXIII. 214 It is very common to hear a person say ‘my horse is a bit of a whistler’, when he means to imply he is not an absolute roarer. 1845 W. C. Spooner Vet. Art (1851) 46 We have the names, whistlers, wheezers, and high-blowers, given by horse-dealers to horses that roar. |
3. a. Something that makes a whistling sound.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Browns and Whistlers, bad halfpence and farthings; (a term used by coiners). 1822 R. G. Wallace Fifteen Yrs. India 118 The quarter-master will transport with the corps forty thousand rounds of spare ammunition, after completing each pouch with sixty whistlers. 1896 Daily News 7 Feb. 5/5 A breezy norther from the frozen steppes—a real Arctic whistler which makes one's face tingle. |
b. An atmospheric heard as a whistle that falls in pitch, caused by radio waves generated by lightning and guided by the lines of force of the earth's magnetic field.
| 1928 Nature 17 Nov. 768/1 These observations refer to a peculiar class of atmospheric, which from their musical nature are appropriately termed ‘whistlers’. 1963 G. M. B. Dobson Exploring Atmosphere viii. 141 It is also possible to get some information about the ionization at very great heights above the earth from the curious phenomenon of ‘whistlers’ or ‘whistling atmospherics’. 1974 [see magnetospheric a.]. 1979 [see wave guide]. |