whistle in the dark

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

1. (colloquial) To make a show of bravery despite one's fears; to put on a brave face.
   • 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 6:

     Those who seriously believe ‘There'll always be an England’ are whistling in the dark.

2. (idiomatic, US) To speak of something despite having little knowledge of it.

• (make a show of bravery): whistle past the graveyard
• (speak of something without knowledge): talk through one's hat, talk out one's ass

• whistle down the wind
• whistle in the wind
• whistle past the graveyard
• whistle Dixie