WHISTLER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Whistler mean? 

• WHISTLER (noun)
  The noun WHISTLER has 5 senses:

1. United States painter (1834-1903)

2. someone who makes a loud high sound

3. large North American mountain marmot

4. large-headed swift-flying diving duck of Arctic regions

5. Australian and southeastern Asian birds with a melodious whistling call

  Familiarity information: WHISTLER used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHISTLER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

United States painter (1834-1903)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

James Abbott McNeill Whistler; Whistler

Instance hypernyms:

painter (an artist who paints)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who makes a loud high sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("whistler" is a kind of...):

signaler; signaller (someone who communicates by signals)

Derivation:

whistle (utter or express by whistling)

whistle (make whistling sounds)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Large North American mountain marmot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

hoary marmot; Marmota caligata; whistler; whistling marmot

Hypernyms ("whistler" is a kind of...):

marmot (stocky coarse-furred burrowing rodent with a short bushy tail found throughout the northern hemisphere; hibernates in winter)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Large-headed swift-flying diving duck of Arctic regions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Bucephela clangula; goldeneye; whistler

Hypernyms ("whistler" is a kind of...):

duck (small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "whistler"):

Barrow's goldeneye; Bucephala islandica (North American goldeneye diving duck)

Holonyms ("whistler" is a member of...):

Bucephala; genus Bucephala (buffleheads and goldeneyes)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Australian and southeastern Asian birds with a melodious whistling call

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

thickhead; whistler

Hypernyms ("whistler" is a kind of...):

flycatcher; Old World flycatcher; true flycatcher (any of a large group of small songbirds that feed on insects taken on the wing)

Holonyms ("whistler" is a member of...):

genus Pachycephala; Pachycephala (arboreal insectivorous birds)

 Context examples 

Known as whistler mode chorus, these waves are created by fluctuating electric and magnetic fields.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)