HISSING • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Hissing

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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

... Express now arriving on track two!" The voice boomed over the loud-speaker system; and as the long, gleaming line of monorail cars eased to a stop with a soft hissing of brakes, the three cadets of the Polaris unit ...

— Stand by for Mars! • Carey Rockwell

... the next order, he cast his glance out upon the bay, and there, not a hundred and fifty yards away, her spotless sails tense, her cordage humming, her immaculate flanks slipping easily through the waves, the water hissing and churning under her forefoot, clean, gleaming, dainty, and aristocratic, the Ridgeways' yacht "Petrel" passed like a thing of life. Wilbur saw Nat Ridgeway himself at the wheel. Girls in smart gowns and young fellows in white ducks and yachting caps—all friends of his—crowded ...

— Moran of the Lady Letty • Frank Norris

... he was in the rear of the others he could not see what became of his companions. He heard one shout from Gunston, and that was all—"Good God, Luttrell, we're lost!" And then the avalanche swept them onwards, first with a sharp, hissing sound, and then with a grinding roar as of thunder, and Brian gave himself up ...

— Under False Pretences - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant

... foresail and fore-topsail, emptied of the wind by the manoeuvre, and with no one to bring in the sheet in time, were thundering into ribbons, the heavy boom threshing and splintering from rail to rail. The air was thick with flying wreckage, detached ropes and stays were hissing and coiling like snakes, and down through it all crashed the gaff of ...

— The Sea-Wolf • Jack London

... never to be any perfect rest. Even in Eden the snake rears its head among the laden boughs of the Tree of Knowledge. The silence of the dreamless night is broken by the roar of the avalanche; the hissing of sudden floods; the clanging of the engine bell marking its sweep through a sleeping American town; the clanking of distant paddles over the sea.... Whatever it is, it is breaking the charm of my Eden. ...

— The Jewel of Seven Stars • Bram Stoker

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