wet one's whistle

wet (one's) whistle

To have something to drink. I'm parched. I'm going to need to wet my whistle before we go on. If you're looking for Barney, he's down at the pub wetting his whistle.

See also: wet, whistle

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

wet one's whistle

Have a drink, as in I'm just going to wet my whistle before I go out on the tennis court. This expression uses whistle in the sense of "mouth" and may allude to the fact that it is very hard to whistle with dry lips. [Late 1300s]

See also: wet, whistle

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wet one's whistle, to

To have a drink. It is very difficult to whistle with dry lips. An old children’s party game involves eating some dry crackers or bread and attempting to whistle; the first to succeed in doing so wins a prize. The term has been around since the fourteenth century. It appeared in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: “So was her joly whistle wel y-wet” (The Reeve’s Tale).

See also: to, wet

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer