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/hˈɪsɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Hissing n.

The act of emitting a hiss or hisses.

The occasion of contempt; the object of scorn and derision. (Archaic) "I will make this city desolate, and a hissing."

verb

Hiss v. t.

To condemn or express contempt for by hissing. "If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them." "Malcolm. What is the newest grief? Ros. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker."

To utter with a hissing sound. "The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise."

Hiss v. i. (past & past part. hissed; pres. part. hissing)

To make with the mouth a prolonged sound like that of the letter s, by driving the breath between the tongue and the teeth; to make with the mouth a sound like that made by a goose or a snake when angered; esp., to make such a sound as an expression of hatred, passion, or disapproval. "The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee."

To make a similar noise by any means; to pass with a sibilant sound; as, the arrow hissed as it flew. "Shod with steel, We hissed along the polished ice."

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Etymology of 'Hissing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hissing" Quotes from Famous Books

... weather beam. The fore and aft canvas was trimmed well, and the outer jibs lifted the ship along at a slapping rate. She was evidently fast in spite of her load, and I looked over the side at the foam that was seething past the lee channels in swirls and eddies which gave forth a cheerful hissing sound as they slipped aft at the rate of six knots an hour. The man at the wheel held her easily, and that was a blessing; for nothing is much worse for a mate's discomfort than a wild ship sheering from side to side leaving a wake like the path of ...

— Mr. Trunnell • T. Jenkins Hains

... and I will resort to vulgar frankness, employed by the truculent commonplace, and say we live in an age of swaggering, badgering, immoral-begotten, vice-ridden, irreligious decrepitude—" Katherine made a hissing noise with her teeth, as if she had been suddenly and severely pricked by a pin, then put up her hands and stopped her ears—this day, Mistress Penwick thou shalt know the character of thy King—Nay, thou shalt know. I will tell thee that 'twill poison thy ...

— Mistress Penwick • Dutton Payne

... can be likened only to the waves of the sea in time of storm, as if in fury at their sudden compression, rush over that rock, then curl back, and pause in the air a moment before tearing on, roaring and hissing with rage, to the whirlpool farther down the stream. See how they dash from side to side, see how the spray rises in the air for the dainty sunlight to play among its foam. Hear the noise, like that of thunder, as a great angry white horse dashes down that storm-washed ...

— Through Finland in Carts • Ethel Brilliana Alec-Tweedie

... the light. The sunlight failed; the day turned to gloom. Then an eddying fog of sand and dust enveloped Hare. His last glimpse before he covered his face with a silk handkerchief was of sheets of sand streaming past his shelter. The storm came with a low, soft, hissing roar, like the sound in a sea-shell magnified. Breathing through the handkerchief Hare avoided inhaling the sand which beat against his face, but the finer dust particles filtered through and stifled him. At first he felt that he would suffocate, ...

— The Heritage of the Desert • Zane Grey

... was a faint white line, where the rollers spread their foam with mournful restless fugue of long drawn roar and hissing sigh. ...

— The Light of Scarthey • Egerton Castle

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