wet (one's) whistle
To have something to drink. I'm parched. I'm going to need to wet my whistle before we go on. If you're looking for Barney, he's down at the pub wetting his whistle.
wet one's whistle
Rur. to take a drink. He stopped at the bar to wet his whistle. I don't need a big glass of water. Just enough to wet my whistle.
wet one's whistle
Have a drink, as in I'm just going to wet my whistle before I go out on the tennis court. This expression uses whistle in the sense of "mouth" and may allude to the fact that it is very hard to whistle with dry lips. [Late 1300s]
wet your whistle
OLD-FASHIONED, INFORMALIf you wet your whistle, you have a drink, especially an alcoholic drink. There's a mouth-watering menu and an excellent selection of beers to wet your whistle. Note: `Whistle' is an old slang word for mouth or throat.
wet your whistle
have a drink. informalwet your ˈwhistle
(old-fashioned, informal) have an alcoholic drink wet (one's) whistle
Informal To take a drink.