whist
1 Americannoun
interjection
adjective
noun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
interjection
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
whistsimple
-
whistssimple
-
have whistedperfect
-
has whistedperfect
-
am whistingprogressive
-
are whistingprogressive
-
is whistingprogressive
-
have been whistingperfect progressive
-
has been whistingperfect progressive
Past
-
whistedsimple
-
had whistedperfect
-
was whistingprogressive
-
were whistingprogressive
-
had been whistingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whist1
1655–65; earlier whisk, perhaps identical with whisk, though sense relationship uncertain
Origin of whist2
1350–1400, Middle English; imitative
Explanation
Whist is a card game for four players that's similar to bridge and hearts. If you enjoy crazy eights, you'll probably also like playing whist. Whist is a fairly simple game in which two pairs of partners team up to try and take as many tricks (sequences of cards played in one turn) as possible. To win a whist trick, you must play the highest card in a particular suit. Whist has many variations, one of which led to the invention of bridge. Whist may come from whisk, in the sense of whisking the cards away, or its obsolete meaning, "silence."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His family - including eight grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren - visit him often, which he loves, and play cards with him, including whist.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025
They are often held when family and friends gather, get animated and talk smack amid a spades or bid whist card game where jokers and deuces are always wild.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2024
Love, Peace & Spades is a safe and inclusive space for Black people to enjoy one another and play Uno, bid whist, Tunk, dominoes and spades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2023
And the series opens with four people playing bid whist.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2022
“No two ways about it,” Dessie said, and she popped the rubber band off the deck of cards to settle them down for a nice long game of bid whist.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
I wish I could get a house down here, and retire from the pomps and short whists of life, the odd tricks and all the honours!
From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II by Downey, Edmund
For the privilege of being invited to teas, bridge whists, of being sure of a place in the local social life.
From The Fighting Shepherdess by Lockhart, Caroline
It also meant to keep silent, as in Surrey's "Virgil": "They whisted all, with fixed face intent."
From Six Centuries of English Poetry Tennyson to Chaucer by Baldwin, James
Again he found himself in a vortex of dining, whisting, talking, and laughter.
From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II by Downey, Edmund
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
