whisperer

[Eng. whisper, v.; -er.] 1. One who whispers. "Next to these bawlers, is a troublesome creature who comes with the air of your friend and your intimate, and that is your whisperer ."- Steele : Spectator , No. 148. 2. One who tells secrets or mischievous communications; a secret slanderer. "A froward man soweth strife; and a whisperer separat eth chief friends." - Proverbs xvi. 28. *3. A conveyer of secret information; a secret agent, a spy. *whis-per-hood, s. [Eng. whisper ; -hood.] The state of being a whisper; a time when a rumor is first suggested or insinuated. "I know a lie, that now disturbed half the kingdom with its noise I can remember its whisper hood ." -Swift : Examiner, No. 15. whis-per-ing, * whys-per-ynge, pr. par., a. & 8. [WHISPER, v .] A. As pr . par .: (See the verb.) B. As adjective: IMG:content-0844.png:[blocks in formation] whisper. Whispering is speech without any employment of the vocal chords, and is effected chiefly by the lips and tongue. ( Foster : Physiol.) whispering-gallery, whispering-dome, subst. A gallery or dome of an elliptical or circular form.in which faint sounds conveyed around the interior wall may be readily heard, while the same are inaudible elsewhere in the interior. Thus in an elliptical chamber if a person standing in one of the foci speak in a whisper, he will be heard distinctly by a person standing in the other focus, although the same sound would not be audible at the same distance under any other circumstances or at any other place in the chamber. There is a Whispering Gallery in the capitol at Washington, one at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and another at Gloucester Cathedral, England. "Whispering - galleries are formed of smooth walls having a continuous curved form. The mouth of the speaker is presented at one point, and the ear of the hearer at another and distant point. In this case, the sound is succe ively reflected from one point to the other until it reaches the ear." -At kins on : Ganot's Physics, § 234. whis'-per-ing-lý, adv . [Eng. whispering ; -ly .] In a whispering manner; in a whisper or low voice. "Hesaid to Hopeful, whisperingly , 'There is more hope of a fool than of him." -Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progre , pt. i. *whis'-per-oŭs-lý, adv . [Eng. whisper ; -ous; -ly .] In a whisper; whisperingly. "The Duche gabbles on whisperously." Lytton: What will he do with it? bk. v., ch. viii, whis'-sle, v. & 8. [WHISTLE, v. & 8.] whist, interj ., a. & s. [A slight sound, expre ive of the breathing or whispering of some one appoaching; cf. Lat.st ! =hist; Ger.st ! bst ! pst ! =hush, hist.] *A. As interj.: Hush! silence! be still! "Whist, wanton, still ye."-Lodge: Euphues; Golden Legacie. plays a card of the same suit (if he has one), and is followed similarly by the player on his left. When all have played, the person who has played the highest card takes up the four cards played, these constituting what is termed a trick. If a player has no card of the suit led off, he may play one of any other suit. The winner of the first trick then leads off with card pleases for the second trick, the winner of which becomes the leader of the third trick, and so on. The score is taken as follows when the hand is played out: the partners who conjointly have won the majority out of the thirteen tricks, score one point for every trick over six. The ace, king, queen, and knave are called honors, and the partners who hold between them three of these cards score two points, and if they hold all of them they score four points; this is technically known as scoring two (or four) by honors. If each side holds two of these cards, honors are said to be divided oreasy. In long whist (now becoming obsolete) ten points make a game; in short whist only five points are required, and in this it is usual to count by tricks alone. A rubber consists of three games, and is won by the partners who score two of them. If one side wins the first two games the third is not played out. There are several modifications of the game, such as solo whist, three-handed whist, . "With rhyme by Hoare, and epic blank by Hoyle: Not him whose page, if still upheld by whist , Requires no sacred theme to bid us list." Byron: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. *whist, v . i . & t . [WHIST, interj .] A. In trans.: To be or become silent, mute, or still. "They whisted all."- Surrey: Virgil's Æneid, ii. 1. B. Trans.: To make silent, mute, or still; to hush. whis-tle (tle as el), v . i. & t. [A. S. hwistlan , hwistlian; cogn. with Dan. hvisle to whistle, to hi ; Sw. hvi la to whistle. A word of imitative origin, like whisper , whiz , .] A. Intransitive : 1. To make a musical sound with the lips and breath without using the vocal cords; the hollow of the mouth forming a resonance-box. ""Have, then, thy wish!'-he whistled shrill." Scott: Lady of the Lake, v. 9. 2. To utter a more or le shrill or piercing sound, or series of sounds, as a bird. "The blackbird whistles from the thorny brake." Tromson: Spring, 604. 3. To produce a sound or sounds by means of a particular kind of wind instrument (or whistle) or by means of steam forced through a small orifice. 4. To sound shrill or like a pipe. "The wild winds whistle, and the billows roar." Pope: Homer's Ody ey, vii. 357. 5. To cause a sharp, shrill sound. "A bullet whistled o'er his head." B. Transitive : Byron: The Giaour. 1. To form, utter, or modulate by whistling. 2. To call, direct, or signal by a whistle. "He cast off his friends, as a huntsman his pack, For he knew, when he pleased, he could whistle them back." Goldsmith: Retaliation , 107. *(1) To go whistle : To go to the deuce. "Your fame is secure, let the critics go whistle." Shenstone: Poet and the Dun. (2) To whistle for a wind : A superstitious practice among old sailors of whistling during a calm to obtain a breeze. Such men, on the contrary, will not whistle during a storm. *(3) To whistle off : Falconry: To send off by a whistle; to send from the fist in search of prey; hence, to dismi or send away generally; to dismi . Hawks were always let fly against the wind; if they flew with the wind behind them they seldom returned. If, therefore, a hawk was for any reason to be dismi ed or abandoned she was let off down the wind. Shakesp.: Venus and Adonis , 1,125. "If I could prove her haggard, Though that her je es were my dear heartstrings, I'd whistle her off , and let her down the wind, To prey at fortune." Shakesp.: Othello , iii. 3. marine; gō, pot, pine, pit, sire, sir, whistle whis'-tle (tle as el), s. [WHISTLE, ν.] 2. Any similar sound; as (1) The sharp or shrill note of a bird. (3) A sound made by the wind, or by a body pa ing rapidly through the air; as, the whistle of a bullet. 3. An instrument or apparatus for producing such a sound; as (1) A small tin or wooden pipe, pierced with holes, and used as a musical toy. (2) A small instrument used for signaling, ., by boatswains, policemen, sportsmen, . (3) The instrument sounded by escaping steam, used for signaling on railway engines, steamships, and the like. 4. The mouth or throat; used principally in the slang phrase, To wet one's whistle =to take a draught or draw. "My whistle once wet, I'll pipe him such a paven.' Beaum, & Flet.: Mad Lover, ii. (1) At one's whistle : Ready at one's call. "Ready at his whistle to array themselves round him in arms against the commander-in-chief."- Macaulay : Hist. Eng ., ch. xiii. (2) To pay for one's whistle, to pay dear for one's whistle: To pay a high price for what one fancies; to pay dearly for indulging one's whim, caprice, fancy or the like. The allusion is to a story told by Dr. Franklin of his nephew, who set his mind on a common whistle, which he bought of a boy for four times its value. "If a man likes to do it, he must pay for his whistle."G. Eliot: Daniel Deronda, ch. xxxv. (3) Worth the whistle : Worth calling, worth inviting; worth notice. The dog is worth the pains of whistling for. Thus Heywood, in one of his dialogues, consisting entirely of proverbs, says, "It is a poor dog that is not worth the whistling . " Goneril says to Albany "I have been worth the whistle." Shakesp.: Lear, iv. 2. *whistle-drunk, a. Completely drunk. "He was, indeed, according to the vulgar phrase, whistle-drunk."-Fielding: Tom Jones, bk. xii., ch. ii. whistle-fish, s . Ichthy.: Motella tricirrhata , the Three-bearded Rockling. Pennant says the name was applied to the fish because "the Cornish fishermen whistle when desirous of taking this fish, as if by that they facilitated its capture." (See extract.) "I believe, indeed, that while preserving the sound of the name, the term has been changed, and a very different word substituted, and that for whistle - fish we ought to read weasel - fish . Both the Three and Five-bearded Rocklings were called mustela from the days of Pliny to those of Rondelet, and thence to the present time." - Yarrell: British Fishes, i. 577. *whistle-tankard, s. A tankard fitted with a whistle, so arranged as to sound when the ve el was emptied, thus warning the drawer that more liquor was required.