Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to converse, to chatter.

1639

J. Taylor Crabree Lectures 189: A Cove and a Mort Whidling together as they budged upon the Pad.

2. to tell, to recount; thus whiddling n.

1654		New Brawle 12: Out, ye Whidling Shammock you, if you had not peach’d Sirrah, ye might have both been nubb’d like two Roagues together, but the Hemp was not ripe.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Whiddle c. to tell or discover. He Whiddles, c. he Peaches. He Whiddles the whole Strap, c. he discovers all he knows. The Cull has Whiddled, because we wou’d n’t tip him a Snack, c. the Dog has discover’d, because we did n’t give him a share. They Whiddle beef, and we must Brush, c. they cry out Thieves, we are Pursued, and must Fly.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 210: Whiddle to tell, or discover.
1724		Hist. of the Remarkable Life of John Sheppard 34: He declar’d himself frequently against the Practice of Whidling, or Impeaching.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1756		J. Cox Narrative of Thief-takers, alias Thief-makers 66: The boy Swannick, the Prisoner, replied, that he was going to the Start for nimming a Cull in the Eye; then swore he wished he had cut off his Head, for then he would not have whidelled again.
1793		C. Dibdin Younger Brother III 278: If we attack the rum squire, he will be peery and prevaricative, but if we whiddle a little to ma’am, though she is as fly as Satan, guilt will fly in her face.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

3. to inform against, to raise a hue and cry.

c.1698, 1725, 1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		see sense 1.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 209: Tip me my Snack, or else I’ll whiddle, i.e. give me my Share, or I’ll tell.
1725		‘Retoure My Dear Dell’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 45: And if it should e’er be my hard fate to trine, / I never will whiddle, I never will squeek.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxviii: To Whiddle To make a Noise, confess or impeach.
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Whiddle, to tell or discover (cant). He whiddles; he peaches. He whiddles the whole scrap; he discovers all he knows. The cull whiddled because they would not tip him a snack: the fellow peached because they would not give him a share.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 274: Oliver whiddles — the tattler old!
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 94: Whiddle, to inform.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: [If] he works in company he has an anxious time lest some of the stags or snitchers may chirp or cackle, squeak or whiddle, if hush stuff is not forthcoming or, to put it in plainer English, informers may speak unless they are paid for their silence.

4. to bribe.

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: whiddle to enter into a Parley, to compound with, or take off by a Bribe; as, Did you Whiddle with the Cull? Did you bribe or compound with the Evidence? Have you paid in your Contribution-Money to the Thief-taker?
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].

5. to lie; thus whiddling n., lying.

1732		Proceedings at Sessions (City of London) Feb. 88/1: When they were carried before Justice Norris, Faxton fell on his Knees and own’d that the Hat was mine, and that he and Smith had robb’d me of a Groat. As they were going to Newgate, Smith said to Faxton, Ye whiddling Dog, now you have hang’d your selfe and me too.
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 42: Nix in whideling; don’t speak.