What's the difference between mutter and whistle?

Mutter


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To utter words indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; esp., to utter indistinct complaints or angry expressions; to grumble; to growl.
  • (v. i.) To sound with a low, rumbling noise.
  • (v. t.) To utter with imperfect articulations, or with a low voice; as, to mutter threats.
  • (n.) Repressed or obscure utterance.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When accused of muttering it while reciting Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, during filming of BBC2s Top Gear, he said he had not, that he would absolutely never use "the most racist word of them all".
  • (2) It's the kind of TV that makes for a wipe-your-weekend-plans box set: the ending of every crack-fix of an episode had me twitchily reaching for the remote to a muttered internal monologue of: "Next one, next one, now, now…" Danes carries the series as the bipolar CIA agent Carrie Mathison, whose furious vigilance is hard to distinguish from pathological mania as she investigates, and ultimately falls for, Sergeant Brody (Damian Lewis), a Marine who may or may not be a terrorist after eight years held captive by al-Qaida.
  • (3) Brownites used to mutter bitterly about their hero for failing to compete with Tony Blair after the death of John Smith.
  • (4) And that voice like a whip-crack: impish, transgressive, swooping from a mutter to a scream.
  • (5) Sampson became the discreet, muttering centre of a web, connected by telephone and letter, telegram and fax, to an astounding cast of world leaders and commentarians, film stars and novelists.
  • (6) For what it's worth, Labour lost on a whopping great 18% swing to the Tories, yet despite an awful lot of muttering absolutely nothing happened.
  • (7) True, he has trounced them so thoroughly that any mutterings of future challenges are an empty blast of sour breath.
  • (8) Two years as a minister is plenty of time to stack up enemies, or at least a few mutterings that you’ve made a hash of the job.
  • (9) Obviously it should be scoffed down in a box set, like a Supersize V Superskinny obese person's enormo-breakfast, before a period of lying green-faced in a darkened room, listening to experimental jazz, muttering, "Carrie can't let another mistake happen!
  • (10) "It's going to destroy property prices in this area," muttered one.
  • (11) As he checks the woman’s heart with a stethoscope, he explains exactly what is about to happen to her – the nurses will hook her up to an EKG machine, among other procedures – and gets the woman to lie down, still muttering at the original nurse but pliable.
  • (12) "Any politician that claims to you that they're an ordinary person is not telling you the truth," Miliband mutters, half smiling and wincing.
  • (13) Even the most fervent haters of the BBC can only mutter and mumble when Attenborough productions are mentioned.
  • (14) It was a misjudgment in the heat of the moment.” The forlorn-looking Formula One world champion muttered: “I can’t really express the way I’m feeling at the moment so I won’t attempt to.
  • (15) Not via muttering idiots, but upfront, with an acrid twist.
  • (16) He’s not just a straight-talker, he’s a man who reliably says the things politicians dream their opponents will be caught muttering within range of forgotten radio-mics – except he declaims them on a podium in front of thousands.
  • (17) ", seconds before splashing about in the sub-zero Atlantic muttering "bugger".
  • (18) Bit of muttering about justifying selling one's own grandmother Updated at 1.21pm BST 1.06pm BST As Barb Jacobson, of the European Citizen's initiative for a basic income, puts it, a basic income should be high enough for everyone to have a dignified life in society, and to take part in society.
  • (19) One woman muttered angrily to her companion: "It is the dumbing down of America."
  • (20) Some of the mutterings from Threadneedle Street are not the stuff to give the troops."

Whistle


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make a kind of musical sound, or series of sounds, by forcing the breath through a small orifice formed by contracting the lips; also, to emit a similar sound, or series of notes, from the mouth or beak, as birds.
  • (v. i.) To make a shrill sound with a wind or steam instrument, somewhat like that made with the lips; to blow a sharp, shrill tone.
  • (v. i.) To sound shrill, or like a pipe; to make a sharp, shrill sound; as, a bullet whistles through the air.
  • (v. t.) To form, utter, or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or an air.
  • (v. t.) To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
  • (v. i.) A sharp, shrill, more or less musical sound, made by forcing the breath through a small orifice of the lips, or through or instrument which gives a similar sound; the sound used by a sportsman in calling his dogs; the shrill note of a bird; as, the sharp whistle of a boy, or of a boatswain's pipe; the blackbird's mellow whistle.
  • (v. i.) The shrill sound made by wind passing among trees or through crevices, or that made by bullet, or the like, passing rapidly through the air; the shrill noise (much used as a signal, etc.) made by steam or gas escaping through a small orifice, or impinging against the edge of a metallic bell or cup.
  • (v. i.) An instrument in which gas or steam forced into a cavity, or against a thin edge, produces a sound more or less like that made by one who whistles through the compressed lips; as, a child's whistle; a boatswain's whistle; a steam whistle (see Steam whistle, under Steam).
  • (v. i.) The mouth and throat; -- so called as being the organs of whistling.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I did not speak to Diego at the final whistle, losing so late in the game was too big a disappointment, especially when Romelu Lukaku was surrounded by three or four defenders and still scored.” That was something Martínez could agree with.
  • (2) But minutes after the final whistle, 76% of respondents to a Corriere della Sport online poll were blaming Lippi and in the post-match press conference the man himself was quick to take the blame, appearing to be anxiously awaiting the moment he can disappear quietly from the scene to be replaced by the Fiorentina manager, Cesare Prandelli, a switch decided with little fuss and no media debate just before the World Cup.
  • (3) There are currently five separate criminal prosecutions relating to official leaks under way, a surge in activity that national security experts say is a worrying attack on the rights of whistle blowers.
  • (4) The audience, energised by an early heckler who was swiftly ejected from the hall at Jerusalem's International Convention Centre, received Obama's message with cheers, applause, whistles and several standing ovations.
  • (5) Adrian Bailey, the BIS committee chair, said TTIP had the potential to help the UK economy and criticised the “dog whistle” politics used by both supporters and opponents of the deal.
  • (6) At the final whistle there were raucous celebrations in Gijón's El Molinón stadium and all over Algeria.
  • (7) The final whistle blew and virtually all the Scarborough fans ran on to the pitch to 'celebrate'.
  • (8) Some information regarding possible meaning of the whistles was obtained.
  • (9) 29 min: There have been so many offside decisions in this game, the referee's whistle is currently more aurally intrusive than the vuvuzelas.
  • (10) Come on.” The pair, who share a strained relationship born of regular clashes since Mourinho arrived in English football in 2004, did not acknowledge each other on the final whistle, once Chelsea had reasserted their five-point lead at the top of the table and condemned Arsenal to a first league loss of the season.
  • (11) As the final whistle blew, Wenger, suddenly wreathed in smiles, hugged his staff, players and even Alan Pardew, a managerial rival with whom he has not always enjoyed the most cordial of technical area relations.
  • (12) 5.56pm GMT 26 min: Shaw whistles a low ball into the Liverpool area from the left.
  • (13) Only five major types of whistle emissions were recorded, all stereotyped and each characteristic of the animal emitting it.
  • (14) The USS Nitze shot warning flares, sounded its whistles and attempted unsuccessfully to communicate with the Iranian boats during Tuesday’s incident, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
  • (15) This article describes the use of the whistle and presents information collected from a nine-month prospective study of the endotracheal tube whistle.
  • (16) 50% In the dog-whistle rhetoric of Hammond and Theresa May, the archetypal contemporary migrant in Europe is from Africa.
  • (17) Steel bands, choirs and dancers performed while the mass of people, many with their children, blew horns and whistles as they passed alongside parliament.
  • (18) Manning and Snowden cannot have been the only US officials to have pondered blowing a whistle on data abuse.
  • (19) Hodgson’s methods, especially towards the end, were viewed as dated and a coach, as Roy Keane put it brashly a few weeks ago in a slightly different context, “who’s got the whistle around his neck and a clipboard” appears sought after.
  • (20) Southampton would have deserved the victory and it said everything that, when the whistle did go, the Midtjylland supporters punched the air and cheered loudly.