| 释义 |
▪ I. whistling, vbl. n.|ˈhwɪs(ə)lɪŋ|
Forms: see whistle v.; also 5 Sc. quhestlyng, 6 Sc. quhisling, 7 whisling.
[OE. (h)wistlung, f. (h)wistlian, whistle v.: see -ing1.]
The action of the verb whistle, in various senses.
1. a. The action of producing a shrill note or notes by forcing the breath through the lips; the utterance of a tune, etc. in this way; † hissing: see whistle v. 1, 5.
c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxiii. 173 Sua sua mid liðre wisðlunga mon hors ᵹestilleð, sua eac mid ð ære illcan wistlunga mon mæᵹ hund astyriᵹean. c1100Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 162/44 Sibilatio, hwistlung. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 456 Foules þat..folwed his whistellynge. 1382Wyclif 2 Chron. xxix. 8 He toke hem in to distourblynge, and into deth, and in to whistlyng [Vulg. sibilum]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xiv. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 255 b/2 An oxe heerde..pleseþ ham [sc. the oxen] wiþ whistelinge and wiþ songe. 1577Grange Golden Aphrod. K iij b, Vnmanned Haukes forsake the lure, all whistlyng brings them not to fiste. 1663Cowley Ess., Agric. Wks. (1674) 106 Some swell up their sleight Sails with pop'lar fame, Charm'd with the foolish whistlings of a Name. 1787Grose Prov. Gloss., Superst. etc. 66 Whistling at sea is supposed to cause an increase of wind, if not a storm. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 45 The same absence of thought which is shewn in England by whistling is displayed in Spain by singing. 1892Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 65 He continued an interrupted whistling of ‘I owe ten dollars to O'Grady’.
b. The action of sounding a whistle or pipe; piping.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xv. 25 Wæs ða sunu his ældra on lond & miððy ᵹecuome & ᵹeneolecde to huse ᵹeherde huislung [L. simphoniam] & þæt song. 1576Curteys Two Serm. B iv b, The Shephearde needeth a Whistle, and..a Dog and an hooke, that suche Sheep as wil not come in with whistling may be either baited in with a Dogge, or drawen in with a Hook. 1679Oates Myst. Iniq. 14 The Master of a Galley..with once whistling makes all the Galley Slaves fall to their Oars. 1884Manch. Exam. 6 Oct. 5/6 The occasional whistling of an engine.
c. In phrases alluding to the act of whistling by way of a call or summons, as for the whistling (= quite easily, without any trouble), worth the whistling.
1546J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. (1867) 35 It is..a poore dogge, that is not woorth the whystlyng. 1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. lii. (1631) 334 Magnanimitie, state, absolutenes are qualities worth the whistling. 1610J. Robinson Justif. Sep. 152 In England a man may haue a Priest for the whisteling. 1655Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 287 He may be had for whistlinge.
d. In fig. phr. whistling in the dark: see whistle v. 9 b.
1939Time 18 Dec. 21/3 Since precious little German trade can be sailed, submarined or flown overseas, writing about ‘new possibilities’..sounded like official whistling in the dark. 1968J. M. White Nightclimber xix. 132 He, like me, hated and feared being carried in this ship, for all his whistling in the dark. 1977Listener 10 Feb. 169/3 Lenin and his wife..were not above a little whistling in the dark to keep up their spirits.
2. a. The utterance of a clear shrill note or notes, as the natural call of a bird or other animal; † also formerly, the hissing of serpents.
In quots. 1375 app. an error for questing = baying (of dogs).
c950Guthlac (Prose) viii. (1909) 139 Mislice fuᵹela hwistlunge. 13..K. Alis. 5247 (Laud MS.) Grete Addren comen flynge And scorpions wiþ vile whistlynge. 1375Barbour Bruce vi. 87 He herd..A hundis quhistlyng [ed. Hart whissilling, MS. Edinb. questionyng] apon fer. Ibid. 94 A hundis quhestlyng. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 14140 Whan I here ther..whystlynges, For verray Ioy I hoppe and daunce. 1728Pope Dunc. iii. 156 Each Cygnet sweet,..Whose tuneful whistling makes the waters pass. 1847Leichhardt Jrnl. xiii. 461 The leatherhead with its constantly changing call and whistling. 1855C. E. Norton Let. to Lowell 6 Apr., There is scarcely a sound but the whistling of the frogs.
b. A form of broken wind in horses: cf. whistler 2 d.
1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. iii. ii. §1. 403 Roaring, whistling, and all defects of the wind, are easily discovered on the first smart gallop.
3. The production of any shrill sound of this kind, as by the wind, a missile, etc.
1513Douglas æneis i. ii. 6 Quhair Eolus..the wyndis lowde quhisling..by his power refrenis. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 5 The Southerne winde..by his hollow whistling in the Leaues, Fortels a Tempest. 1608Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Schism 932 Sea's angry noise, loud bellowing of the Winde,..the tackles whisteling. 1609Bible (Douay) 1 Kings xix. 12 And after the fire a wistling of a gentle winde. 1681–6J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 9 We regard what he saith no more than we do the Whistling of the Wind. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. i. 58 The arrows made a loud whistling in their flight. 1841J. F. Cooper Deerslayer iii, At the report of the rifle and the whistling of the bullet. 1844Dufton Deafness 77 If there is mucus, then various kinds of gurgling and whistling will be evident. 1899J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt 337 Swishing their white tails..with such violence that the whistling caused by this movement can be heard nearly a quarter of a mile away.
4. attrib., as whistling match, whistling pipe; whistling-post, a post beside a railway-line, on passing which the engine-whistle is sounded; whistling-shop slang, a room in a prison in which spirits were secretly sold without a licence (a signal being given by whistling to escape detection).
1837D. Walker Sports & Games 344 *Whistling Match. A match of this kind is recorded in a paper of Addison's.
1586[? J. Case] Praise Mus. i. 18 The *whistling pipes which were made for the most part, of reedes.
1898Hamblen Gen. Manager's Story x. 140, I managed to see most of the *whistling-posts,..and..I blew the crossing signal anyway.
1796Grose Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), *Whistling shop, rooms in the King's Bench prison where drams are privately sold. 1821W. T. Moncrieff Tom & Jerry iii. v, Scene V.—Interior of Whistling Shop. 1837Dickens Pickw. xlv, A whistling-shop, sir, is where they sell spirits.
▪ II. ˈwhistling, ppl. a.
Forms: see whistle v.; also 6 whislyng.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That whistles, in various senses.
1. a. Of inanimate things: see whistle v. 3.
whistling arrow, a toy arrow formerly in use, with a hollow head so constructed as to make a whistling sound in flying. whistling buoy, a buoy fitted with a whistle which is automatically sounded by the movement of the waves. whistling kettle, a kettle fitted with a device that emits a whistle as the water boils.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 170 Men myghte his brydel heere Gynglen in a whistlynge wynd. a1547Surrey æneis iv. 586 The whistlyng ayre among the braunches rores. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 86 To dance our ringlets to the whistling Winde. a1593Marlowe Lucan i. 240 Shrill cornets, whistling fifes. 1667J. Flavel Saint Indeed (1673) 71 To a guilty Conscience, the whistling leaves are Drums and Trumpets. a1718Prior Henry & Emma 333 Winged Deaths in whistling Arrows fly. 1784Cowper Task iii. 802 The whistling ball Sent through the trav'ller's temples! Ibid. vi. 941 The..haughty world..sweeps him with her whistling silks. 1842Tennyson Sir Galahad 59 Blessed forms in whistling storms Fly o'er waste fens. 1880Cassell's Fam. Mag. 124/2 The Courtenay automatic whistling buoy. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xviii, The whistling strokes of the scourge. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. viii, The We're Here crawled in on half-flood, and the whistling-buoy moaned and mourned behind her. 1928–9Army & Navy Stores Catal. 173/4 The Whistling kettle. When the water boils the kettle whistles. 1961J. Stroud Touch & Go iv. 43 The whistling kettle..burst into an unnerving shriek. 1974R. Ingham Yoris xx. 63 She put a small whistling kettle on the gas ring.
b. transf. of a time or place: Characterized by or full of whistling.
1623J. Wodroephe Marrow Fr. Tongue 475/2 A Whistling March, that makes the Plough Man blithe. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 167 Our..journey..through whistling dales; in..which we were..weather-beaten with a raging storme. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scot. III. 227 The English Chapel [in Glasgow]..the common people,..on account of its organ, stigmatize it with the contemptuous epithet of the whistling kirk.
c. Mil. Designating a missile which makes a whistling sound in flight, or a gun from which such missiles are fired. Freq. in the nicknames of these.
1864J. Brobst Let. 28 May in M. B. Roth Well, Mary: Civil War Lett. Wisconsin Volunteer (1960) iv. 67 We dare not show our heads unless we want them to send one of their whistling jimmies at us. 1902J. Milne Epistles of Atkins iv. 67 At Ladysmith ‘Sighing Sarah’ and ‘Whistling Willie’ proclaim their own shots from Umbalwana. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars xcv. 507 The aeroplanes circled round in their cold-blooded way, to drop whistling bombs into its trenches. 1948W. White Man called White 256 Three heavy German guns which the Americans nicknamed ‘The Anzio Express’ and ‘Whistling Willies’.
2. a. Of a sound: Of the nature of a whistle; such as is produced by a whistle or shrill pipe.
1662Boyle Exam. Hobbes iii. 16 The external Air rushing in with a whistling noise at the..Orifice. 1668Wilkins Real Char. 363 The u Gallicum, or whistling u,..cannot be denied to be a distinct simple vowel. 1750G. Hughes Barbados iv. 119 The Wind, blowing into the Cavities of these Husks, makes a very sonorous whistling Noise. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. ii, They..beheld the barbarian..brandish high his formidable weapon, the whistling sound of which made the old arch ring. 1851W. H. Walshe Dis. Lungs 97 Sibilant rhonchus..two varieties, the short and the prolonged, or the clicking and the whistling.
b. whistling atmospheric: = whistler 3 b.
1953Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CCXLVI. 128 The main facts of observation concerning the whistling atmospherics..are summarized above. 1959Davies & Palmer Radio Stud. Universe ix. 174 Storey at Cambridge in 1952..was investigating a phenomenon known as whistling atmospherics or simply ‘whistlers’ which are groups of radio waves at audio frequencies (15 kc/s). 1963[see whistler 3 b].
3. a. Of a person: see whistle v. 1, 4.
1630B. Jonson New Inn i. i, I must ha'..whistling boyes to bring my haruest home. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 33 A crooning Cow, a crowing Hen, and a whistling Maid boded never luck to a House. 1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xii. 250 Jackey..was the most thoughtless, whistling, sauntering fellow. 1802Wordsw. Poems, To Toussaint l'Ouverture 2 Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough Within thy hearing. 1850N. & Q. 1st Ser. II. 164/1 A whistling woman and a crowing hen Is neither fit for God nor men.
b. That keeps a ‘whistling-shop’ (see prec. 4).
1837Dickens Pickw. xlv, ‘Any more?’ said the whistling gentleman.
4. a. Of a bird or other animal: see whistle v. 2.
Chiefly as a descriptive epithet of particular species, as in whistling dick, a name for various species of thrush, esp. of the Australian genus Colluricincla; whistling duck, various species of duck, as the golden-eye and the widgeon (cf. whistler 2 a); whistling eagle or hawk, a small eagle or large hawk (Haliastur sphenurus) of Australia and New Caledonia; whistling field bird or w. f. plover, the grey plover (Squatarola helvetica); whistling fish = whistle-fish (see whistle n. 4); whistling marmot = whistler 2 b; whistling moth (see quot.); whistling plover, swan (see plover 2, swan n. 1); whistling thrush, a local name for the song-thrush.
1848Gould Birds Australia II. pl. 77 Colluricincla Selbii,..*Whistling Dick, of the Colonists of Van Diemen's Land.
1699W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 69 *Whistling Ducks are somewhat less than our Common Duck... In flying, their Wings make a pretty sort of loud whistling Noise. 1863Bates Nat. Amazons vii. (1864) 165 Flocks of whistling ducks (Anas Autumnalis), parrots, and..macaws..flew over.
1819Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XI. ii. 467 [The Alwargrim Plover] is called in America the Large *Whistling Field Bird, from its note, which is very shrill. 1872Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 243 Whistling Field Plover. Bull-head. Ox-eye.
1763in Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) I. 143 The seals.. are seen searching for their prey near shore, where the *whistling fish, wraws, and polacks resort.
1907Nature 19 Sept. 516/1 The ‘*whistling (stridulating) moths’ of the genus Hecatesia..emit sounds like the call of a Cicada.
1668Charleton Onomast. 109 Pluvialis Flavovirescens, the green Plover, & *whistling Plover. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 145 We..found..a great many of the whistling plover, the same with ours.
1785Pennant Arctic Zool. II. 542 The *Whistling Swan carries its neck quite erect. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 319 The hooper, or whistling swan..is an inhabitant of the northern regions. 1896R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. II. 246 The Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) and the Whistling Swan (C. americanus).
1668Charleton Onomast. 100 Boscas, aliis Anas Fistularis,..the Whewer, or *Whistling Widgeon.
b. whistling thorn, a small prickly tree, Acacia drepanolobium or A. zanzibarica, found in East Africa.
1949R. O. Williams Useful & Ornamental Plants in Zanzibar 102 Acacia zanzibarica..Coast Whistling Thorn. A thorny tree..bearing balls of bright yellow flowers. 1966C. A. W. Guggisberg S.O.S. Rhino iii. 53 The rapid spread of the whistling thorn over vast areas..is probably a result of the reduction..of this animal! 1976K. Thackeray Crownbird i. 9 The cab was full of whistling thorn, and swarming with red ants.
Hence ˈwhistlingly adv., with a whistle or whistling.
1851H. Melville Whale II. xlii. 285 Stubb whistlingly gathers up the coil of the warp. 1891Illustr. Sporting & Dram. News Christmas No., 36/2 A wind got up, suddenly, whistlingly. |