whistle down the wind

whistle down the wind

1. (transitive) To set (someone) free, allowing them to go their own way and do what they choose.
   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 4, chapter VI, The Landed

     Can he do nothing for his Burns but make a Gauger of him; lionise him, bedinner him, for a foolish while: then whistle him down the wind, to desperation and bitter death?

2. (transitive) To badmouth someone or something; to disparage.
   • 2013, April Kihlstrom, An Outrageous Proposal:

     It is very easy for you to whistle down the wind an eligible partner. There are far too many of us who can only wish we might have had the choice!

3. To talk to no purpose.

• whistle in the dark
• whistle in the wind
• whistle past the graveyard
• whistle Dixie