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While vs Whistle - What's the difference?

while | whistle |

In transitive terms the difference between while and whistle

is that while is to pass (time) idly while whistle is to send, signal, or call by a whistle.

As a conjunction while

is during the same time that.

while

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.
  • He lectured for quite a long while .

    Conjunction

    (wikipedia while) (English Conjunctions)
  • During the same time that.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=While the powwow was going on the big woman came back again. She was consider'ble rumpled and scratched up, but there was fire in her eye.}}
  • * 1948 , , North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States , J. B. Lippincott Company, page 25,
  • While De Anza was exploring the Bay of San Francisco, seeking a site for the presidio, the American colonists on the eastern seaboard, three thousand miles away, were celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
  • Although.
  • * 2013 September 28, (Kenan Malik), " London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
  • While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow.
  • (Northern England, Scotland) Until.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.
  • As long as.
  • * I. Watts
  • Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to overload it.

    Verb

    (whil)
  • To pass (time) idly.
  • * Longfellow
  • The lovely lady whiled the hours away.
  • To loiter.
  • (Spectator)

    Derived terms

    * while away * meanwhile * the while

    whistle

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device designed to be placed in the mouth in order, or driven by steam or otherwise, to make a whistling sound.
  • An act of whistling.
  • A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.
  • Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
  • the whistle of the wind in the trees
  • (Cockney rhyming slang) A suit (from whistle and flute ).
  • * 2005 , Wally Payne, A Minority of One: A Monkey's Tale Continued
  • We soldiers changed into our No.1 dress uniforms, Sid into his best whistle and we set off for the church.
  • The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.
  • * Walton
  • Let's drink the other cup to wet our whistles .

    Derived terms

    * bells and whistles * * it's not the whistle that pulls the train * wet one's whistle * whistle-blower * whistle pig * whistle-stop * whistle walk

    Verb

    (whistl)
  • (ambitransitive) To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth. To produce a whistling sound, restrictions to the flow of air are created using the teeth, tongue and lips.
  • Never whistle at a funeral.
    She was whistling a happy tune.
  • To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.
  • A bullet whistled past.
  • To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
  • * Addison
  • He chanced to miss his dog; we stood still till he had whistled him up.

    Derived terms

    * whistle Dixie * whistle in the dark * whistle past the graveyard

    See also

    * (wikipedia "whistle")