wet one's whistle, to
wet one's whistle
Rur. to take a drink. He stopped at the bar to wet his whistle. I don't need a big glass of water. Just enough to wet my whistle.
See also: wet, whistle
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
wet one's whistle
Have a drink, as in I'm just going to wet my whistle before I go out on the tennis court. This expression uses whistle in the sense of "mouth" and may allude to the fact that it is very hard to whistle with dry lips. [Late 1300s]
See also: wet, whistle
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
wet (one's) whistle
Informal To take a drink.
See also: wet, whistle
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
wet one's whistle, to
To have a drink. It is very difficult to whistle with dry lips. An old children’s party game involves eating some dry crackers or bread and attempting to whistle; the first to succeed in doing so wins a prize. The term has been around since the fourteenth century. It appeared in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: “So was her joly whistle wel y-wet” (The Reeve’s Tale).
See also: wet
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- get wet
- meadow muffin
- wet through
- get your feet wet
- get (one's) feet wet
- get feet wet
- get one's feet wet
- wet (one's) whistle
- in the drink
- wet one