whistling down the wind

Verb

whistle down the wind (third-person singular simple present whistles down the wind, present participle whistling down the wind, simple past and past participle whistled down the wind)

1. (transitive) To set (someone) free, allowing them to go their own way and do what they choose.
   • 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?1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “chapter VI, The Landed”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book IV (Horoscope)
2. (transitive) To badmouth someone or something; to disparage.
   • 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!2013, April Kihlstrom, An Outrageous Proposal
3. To talk to no purpose.