Whip the cat, when an operative works at a private house by the day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters.
Whipper-snapper, a waspish, diminutive person.
Whisper, a tip given in secret, a rumour which is spread under the pretence of its being a secret. To “give the WHISPER,” is to give a quick tip to any one. An owner’s final instruction to his jockey is called “the WHISPER at the post.”
Whisper, to borrow money—generally small sums—as, “He WHISPERED me for a tanner.”
Whisperer, a constant borrower.
Whistle, “as clean as a WHISTLE,” neatly, or “slickly done,” as an American would say; “To whet (or more vulgarly wet) one’s WHISTLE,” to take a drink. This last is a very old expression. Chaucer says of the Miller of Trumpington’s wife (Canterbury Tales, 4153)—
“So was hir joly WHISTAL well y-wet.”
“To WHISTLE for anything,” to stand small chance of getting it, from the nautical custom of WHISTLING for a wind in a calm, which of course comes none the sooner for it. “To pay for one’s WHISTLE,” to pay extravagantly for any fancy.
Whistling-Billy, or puffing-Billy, a locomotive engine.
Whistling-shop, a place in which spirits are sold without a licence.