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As humans we like to laugh at our fears, we like to whistle in the dark.
Jeff Dunham

Meaning of "whistle in the dark" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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PRONUNCIATION OF WHISTLE IN THE DARK

whistle in the dark play
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WHAT DOES WHISTLE IN THE DARK MEAN IN ENGLISH?

A Whistle in the Dark

A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered in 1961 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London, having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It then went on to be a West End hit. Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time. It tells the story in three acts of the climactic confrontation between Michael, the oldest of the Carney sons, and his father and brothers, a brawling, hard-drinking, criminal gang of Irish immigrants living and working in Coventry. A powerful portrayal of tribal violence and the devastation it brings in its wake in spite of attempts to stand against it, it remains Murphy's best known and most performed play. John Lahr of The Village Voice saw its influence in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. Other plays showing its influence are Gary Mitchell's In A Little World Of Our Own and Rod Wooden's Your Home In The West.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE WHISTLE IN THE DARK

whisperously
whispery
whiss
whist
whist drive
whistle
whistle blower
whistle for
whistle stop
whistle up
whistle-blower
whistle-blowing
whistle-stop
whistle-stopped
whistle-stopping
whistleable
whistler
whistling
whistling swan
whistlingly

WORDS THAT END LIKE WHISTLE IN THE DARK

a leap in the dark
bookmark
Clark
Danmark
dark
Denmark
go dark
Hyde Park
landmark
mark
national park
park
pitch-dark
Registered Trademark
shark
shot in the dark
spark
stark
the park
trademark

Synonyms and antonyms of whistle in the dark in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «whistle in the dark» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF WHISTLE IN THE DARK

Find out the translation of whistle in the dark to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of whistle in the dark from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «whistle in the dark» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

哨子在黑暗中
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

silbido en la oscuridad
570 millions of speakers

English

whistle in the dark
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

अंधेरे में सीटी
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

صافرة في الظلام
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

свисток в темноте
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

assobio no escuro
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

অন্ধকারে হুইশেল
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

coup de sifflet dans le noir
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Wisel dalam gelap
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Pfeife in der Dunkelheit
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

暗闇の中で笛
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

어둠 속에서 휘파람
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Singsot ing peteng
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

tiếng còi trong bóng tối
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

இருட்டில் விஸ்ஸல்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

गडद मध्ये शीळ घालणे
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Karanlıkta düdük çal
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

fischio nel buio
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

gwizdek wciemno
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

свисток в темряві
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

fluier în întuneric
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

σφύριγμα στο σκοτάδι
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

fluitjie in die donker
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

vissla i mörkret
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

fløyte i mørket
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of whistle in the dark

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «WHISTLE IN THE DARK»

The term «whistle in the dark» is regularly used and occupies the 84.579 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
61
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «whistle in the dark» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of whistle in the dark
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «whistle in the dark».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «WHISTLE IN THE DARK» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «whistle in the dark» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «whistle in the dark» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about whistle in the dark

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «WHISTLE IN THE DARK»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word whistle in the dark.
1
Jeff Dunham
As humans we like to laugh at our fears, we like to whistle in the dark.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «WHISTLE IN THE DARK»

Discover the use of whistle in the dark in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to whistle in the dark and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Whistle in the Dark
In a small Missouri town during the 1920s, Clem is torn between family responsibility and the life he wishes to lead when he must begin working in the local lead mine on his thirteenth birthday, to help pay for his sister's medical care.
Susan Hill, Susan Hill Long, 2013
2
Whistle in the Dark
Whistle in the Dark is her first published novel and she is currently working on her next book, The Last to Know. http: //SBPRA.com/LisaCarett
Lisa Caretti, 2011
3
A whistle in the dark & other plays
Tom Murphy's early masterpiece, A Whistle in the Dark depicts the reunion of an Irish family in Coventy: a picture of Irishmen 'over here' asserting themselves in one of England's post-war dream cities.
Thomas Murphy, 1989
4
The Internationalism of Irish Literature and Drama
17 The concept of 'fate' as an invincible power also permeates much of Thomas Murphy's work, and the plays most closely related to Lorca's in this respect are A Whistle in the Dark and Famine. Here the characters are doomed to 'play their ...
Joseph McMinn, 1992
5
The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights
... to embark on a career as a playwright. With his first full-length play, A Whistle in the Dark, being harshly rejected in Ireland, first and foremost by the then- managing director of the Abbey Theatre, Ernest Blythe, he turned to London in 1962.
Martin Middeke, Peter Paul Schnierer, 2010
6
Every Step You Take
“Never whistle in the dark,” the pneumatic doors whispered to me as they opened at a station stop. “It will bring the bears,” they added as they closed. Then a vision of my mother would come to me, smiling and laughing, sitting somewhere at ...
Jock Soto, 2011
7
On Human Nature: A Gathering While Everything Flows, 1967-1984
... Burke could not believe in Whitman's dream and makes a frontal attack on him in this essay. Burke liked to say that Whitman was whistling in the dark in his poems. You whistle in the dark to keep yourself from being scared. It is what kids do.
Kenneth Burke, William Howe Rueckert, Angelo Bonadonna, 2003
8
Walt Whitman and the Culture of American Celebrity
As the point evolves through conversation, the poet did not whistle in the dark, but rather whistled in the midst of criticism and indi√erence. The self-promotions compete against the problems of being at once notorious and anonymous.
David Haven Blake, 2008
9
There Is a Tree More Ancient Than Eden
... the dance, the drums, the shades of tongues, the parents, the flight and those old eruptions of bloom ringing bells and twisting tambourines — catcalling bell- drum pealings; that old whistle in the dark of bad times and that old one-butt shuffle ...
Leon Forrest, 2001
10
The Transformation Of Ireland 1900-2000
Dublin's Abbey Theatre rejected the Irish playwright Tom Murphy's play Whistle in the Dark on the grounds that the dispossessed class, the characters he wrote about, did not exist. Unfortunately there is a tendency for such issues to be lumped ...
Diarmaid Ferriter, 2010

7 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «WHISTLE IN THE DARK»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term whistle in the dark is used in the context of the following news items.
1
We Irish are not whiter than white. We have a long history of racism
Tom Murphy's play, A Whistle in the Dark, opened in the Theatre Royal, London, in 1961. Its reception was characterised by racist stereotypes of the Irish as ... «Irish Examiner, Dec 14»
2
Druid Theatre to stage new Tom Murphy work
Since then, Hynes has directed some of Murphy's finest work, and two years ago she staged a trilogy – A Whistle in the Dark, Famine and Conversations on a. «Irish Times, Aug 14»
3
Before he could be Doyle, Allan Hawco had to find a way to …
Whistle in the Dark, that show, it changed my life,” he says, referring to Company's inaugural production. “Truly. Without that, there's no Company, there's no ... «National Post, Apr 14»
4
'DruidMurphy: Plays by Tom Murphy,' at Lincoln Center
Taken together, “Conversations on a Homecoming” (1985), “A Whistle in the Dark” (1961) and “Famine” (1968) explore how the forces of history — and of want, ... «New York Times, Jul 12»
5
DruidMurphy, Hampstead Theatre, London
Conversations on a Homecoming, A Whistle in the Dark and Famine are set between 1846 and the 1970s. They do not form a trilogy, but a contrasting, ... «Financial Times, Jun 12»
6
A sort of homecoming
WHEN TOM MURPHY submitted his first full-length play, A Whistle in the Dark, to the Abbey in 1961, the theatre's artistic director, Ernest Blythe, refused to ... «Irish Times, May 12»
7
Ten Best Whistling Songs of Today
And while there are memorable whistling songs of yesteryear that still act as ... Here's NOT the song to whistle in the dark to make you feel that you're not afraid. «OC Weekly, Jul 11»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Whistle in the dark [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/whistle-in-the-dark>. Apr 2024 ».
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