whistle past the graveyard
whistle past the graveyard verb: to attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.
Verb
whistle past the graveyard (third-person singular simple present whistles past the graveyard, present participle whistling past the graveyard, simple past and past participle whistled past the graveyard)
- To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.
- To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences.
Forms of whistle past the graveyard
| third-person singular present | whistles past the graveyard |
|---|---|
| present participle | whistling past the graveyard |
| past participle | whistled past the graveyard |
| past | whistled past the graveyard |
Questions about whistle past the graveyard
- What does whistle past the graveyard mean?
- Whistle past the graveyard means to attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.
- What part of speech is whistle past the graveyard?
- Whistle past the graveyard is a verb.
- What is the past tense of whistle past the graveyard?
- The past tense of whistle past the graveyard is whistled past the graveyard.
Words near whistle past the graveyard in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: whistle past the graveyard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-whistle past the graveyard.ogg.
Cite this entry: “whistle past the graveyard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whistle_past_the_graveyard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.