whistle

whistle

slang A suit. The term comes from the rhyming slang in which "whistle" is short for "whistle and flute," which rhymes with "suit." Primarily heard in UK. How could you forget your brand new whistle? What are you going to wear to the wedding now?
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See:
  • (as) clean as a whistle
  • (as) slick as a whistle
  • (one) can whistle for it
  • a whistle-stop tour
  • a whistling woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men
  • be (as) clean as a whistle
  • be not whistling Dixie
  • be whistling Dixie
  • be whistling in the dark
  • be whistling in the wind
  • bells and whistles
  • blow the whistle
  • blow the whistle (on) (someone or something)
  • blow the whistle (on) (someone), to
  • blow the whistle on
  • blow the whistle on someone/something
  • can (just) whistle for (something)
  • can whistle for
  • clean as a hound's tooth
  • clean as a whistle
  • dog whistle
  • don't whistle before you are out of the woods
  • don't whistle till you are out of the woods
  • don't whistle until you are out of the woods
  • let out (some sound)
  • meat whistle
  • never whistle before you are out of the woods
  • never whistle till you are out of the woods
  • never whistle until you are out of the woods
  • not (just) whistling Dixie
  • not be whistling Dixie
  • not just whistling Dixie
  • not worth a whistle
  • pay too dearly for (one's) whistle
  • slick as a whistle
  • wet (one's) whistle
  • wet one's whistle
  • wet one's whistle, to
  • wet whistle
  • wet your whistle
  • whistle
  • whistle (one) down the wind
  • whistle (something) down the wind
  • whistle a different tune
  • whistle and flute
  • whistle at
  • whistle at (someone or something)
  • whistle Dixie
  • whistle for
  • whistle for something
  • whistle in the dark
  • whistle in the dark, to
  • whistle in the wind
  • whistle something down the wind
  • whistle up
  • whistleblower
  • whistle-blower
  • whistle-stop
  • whistle-stop tour
  • whistling girls and crowing hens always come to some bad end
  • wolf whistle
  • worth the whistle
  • you ain't (just) whistling Dixie
  • you, etc. can whistle for it
References in classic literature
"You'll find her so; she must be, to make you learn to whistle to her bullfinches.
Tess of the dUrbervilles A Pure Woman
"I want my whistle!" said the little Prince, beginning to cry.
"The whistle is lost, but you may have another when you get home."
Ozma of Oz
Any jackass gets aboard one and runs it from hell to breakfast, blowin' his whistle to beat the band and tellin' the rest of the world to look out for him, because he's comin' and can't look out for himself!
The fresh breeze was blowing right down upon us, and I could hear the whistle plainly, off to one side and a little ahead.
The Sea Wolf
They were to begin firing at the first whistle of the locomotive.
They were listening for the whistle agreed upon, when suddenly savage cries resounded in the air, accompanied by reports which certainly did not issue from the car where the duellists were.
Around The World In Eighty Days
Seeing that he was rather cast down, the old man told him that he had a brother nine hundred miles away, and that if information could be got about them from anyone it would be from him; 'and I will enable you,' he said, 'to reach the place where he lives before night.' So he blew his whistle, and the Irishman landed at the brother's house before nightfall.
I am master of all the birds in the world, and have only to blow my whistle and every one will come to me.
So he blew his whistle, and when he blew it then all the birds of the world began to gather.
Yellow Fairy Book
A case in point is the current furore over the leak (whistle blowing) of our PM's peculiar decision to award a security sensitive contract to China, while deploying HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Seas to counteract China's expansion programme.
Just double standards
A lot of criticism has been directed at the treatment of Howard Wilkinson, the former head of Danske Bank's Baltics trading unit, who blew the whistle on what is suspected money-laundering said amount to over pound 200 billion.
Whistle-blower protection and its impact on business
25 January 2019 - US-based sports and entertainment media brand Whistle has acquired Los Angeles, US-based digital entertainment studio New Form, the company said.
Whistle Acquires Los Angeles Digital Studio New Form
Of course, the art took off as an entertainment in the wake of Frank Churchill and Larry Morey writing Whistle While You Work for the classic Disney film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937.
LOST TRIBES