whistlern.

c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 23 Þa se hælend com into þæs ealdres healle, & geseah hwistleras.

1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xv. 475 With wederes and with wondres, he warneth vs with a whistlere.

1538 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1905) VI. 399 In primis to iiij trumpetouris, iiij tabernouris, and iij quhislaris.

1538 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. I. 292* Debursat upoun þe Trumpetouris Tabernaris Quhuslaris and vtheris.

1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 30 The whistler with his iron Pipe encouraging the Marriners.

1844 E. B. Browning Pain in Pleasure 5 I desired the art Of the Greek whistler, who..Could lure those insect swarms from orange-trees.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 525/1 Whystelare, ossinus, ossinator.

1542 A. Borde Compend. Regyment Helth viii. sig. D.iii^v Fye on the benche whystler wylt thou sterte away nowe?

1652 E. Benlowes Theophila xiii. lxxxii. 246 But, hark, 'tis late; the Whislers knock from Plough.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 145. ⁋4 Whistlers, Singers and common Orators.

1850 G. P. R. 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.

1821 W. T. Moncrieff Tom & Jerry iii. v The whistler, otherwise the spirit-merchant.

1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xliv. 490 ‘Are these rooms never searched..?’ said Mr. Pickwick. ‘Cert'nly they are, Sir,’ replied Sam; ‘but the turnkeys knows before-hand, and gives the vord to the vistlers, and you may vistle for it ven you go to look.’

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Aa3^v The whistler shrill, that who so heares, doth dy.

1623 J. Webster Dutchesse of Malfy iv. ii. sig. K^v 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 T. Pennant Gen. Synopsis Birds I. ii. 443 Whistler O[riole]... Inhabits St. Domingo, where it is called Siffleur.

a1862 H. D. Thoreau Maine Woods (1864) i. 15 The note of a whistler-duck.

1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting 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 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 704 Clangula glaucium. Golden-eye. Whistler. Garrot.

1703 tr. L. de Lahontan New Voy. N.-Amer. I. 110 [We saw] little beasts called Siffleurs or Whistlers.

1820 D. Haskel Harmon's Jrnl. Voy. & Trav. N. Amer. 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 Fauna Boreali-Americana 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, Brit. Columbia) 4 Feb. 4/3 Here we saw ptarmigan and heard the marmots, or whistlers.

1864 J. Couch Hist. Fishes Brit. Islands III. 105 Three-bearded Rockling. Whistler. Whistle-fish..Motella vulgaris.

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.) 23 214 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.

1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 159 Browns and Whistlers, bad halfpence and farthings; (a term used by coiners).

1822 R. G. Wallace 15 Years in 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.

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 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 277/2 The so-called whistlers in the kilohertz frequency range, as well as the long-period waves,..have become important tools in magnetospheric exploration both from the ground and from satellites.

1979 Sci. Amer. Oct. 71/3 Some whistlers have proved to be signals generated by a lightning stroke in one hemisphere of the earth and conducted to the opposite hemisphere through a natural waveguide formed by the lines of force of the earth's magnetic field.