whistler

¹ American  

[hwis-ler, wis-] / ˈʰwɪs lər, ˈwɪs- /

noun

1. a person or thing that whistles.

2. something that makes a sound like a whistle.

   The windstorm was a 60-mile-an-hour whistler.

3. any of various birds whose wings whistle in flight, especially the goldeneye.

4. thickhead.

5. a large marmot, Marmota caligata, of mountainous northwestern North America, closely related to the woodchuck.

6. a horse afflicted with whistling. whistling.

7. Radio. a whistling whistling sound heard on a radio, a type of interference caused by distant lightning.

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Whistler ² American  

[wis-ler, hwis-] / ˈwɪs lər, ˈʰwɪs- /

noun

1. James (Abbott) McNeill 1834–1903, U.S. painter and etcher, in France and England after 1855.

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whistler ¹ British  

/ ˈwɪslə /

noun

1. a person or thing that whistles

2. radio an atmospheric disturbance picked up by radio receivers, characterized by a whistling sound of decreasing pitch. It is caused by the electromagnetic radiation produced by lightning

3. any of various birds having a whistling call, such as certain Australian flycatchers and the goldeneye See also thickhead

4. any of various North American marmots of the genus Marmota, esp M. caligata ( hoary marmot )

5. vet science a horse affected with an abnormal respiratory noise, resembling whistling

6. informal a referee

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Whistler ² British  

/ ˈwɪslə /

noun

1. James Abbott McNeill. 1834–1903, US painter and etcher, living in Europe. He is best known for his sequence of nocturnes and his portraits

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Other Word Forms

• Whistlerian adjective

Etymology

Origin of whistler

before 1000; Middle English; Old English hwistlere. See whistle, -er ¹

Example Sentences

He’s a big whistler—and actually pretty good at it as far as whistling goes.

From Literature

Surfing YouTube for throat whistlers, Saxon came across a former circus performer named Paul “The Birdman” Manalatos who had developed a signature coo.

From Los Angeles Times

These days, Sundays look a bit different for the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and whistler, but they’re still a time for decompressing.

From Los Angeles Times

In Season 1, the cards it spit out seemingly told characters what their true fate was: magician, royalty, or in the case of Chris O’Dowd’s repressed family man, “teacher/whistler.”

From New York Times

The Celtic boss was not at all happy with Beaton's VAR performance in their recent loss at Hearts, but insists he has no issue with the choice of whistler at Ibrox.

From BBC