Meanings
whistness1
- obsoleteuncountableSilence.
Who dares cumber / This universall whistnesse; where none come, / But taciturnity, and silence dumbe?
1657, Thomas Heywood, The General History of WomenSynonyms: hush, roo, soundlessness, black noise, crickets, hush, noiselessness, quiet
whistness2
- DevonobsoleteuncountableWitchcraft; supernatural dealings.
Other more learned derivations have been suggested, but the whole place is steeped in “whistness” for on the open hillside above the oak copse runs the ancient Lych way, that ghostly Path of the Dead […]
1982, Ruth St. Leger-Gordon, The Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor, page 261 more example
[O]thers fancied — the natives notably — that there was some "whistness," or witchcraft, in the business; it might be, as they thought, the work of Dick Down, the old huntsman who was eaten by the Hayne hounds, and whose ghost was known to haunt the covers round the park.
1883, Edward William L. Davies, A memoir of the Rev. John Russell, and his out-of-door life, page 159Synonyms: sorcery, witchery, wizardry, bewitchery, black arts, charmwork, conjuration, conjuring
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSilence.
nounWitchcraft; supernatural dealings.
Origin
Cite this entry
whistness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whistness
“whistness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whistness. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whistness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whistness.
Source: whistness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.