HISSING • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... cold water into the coffee-pot, which by this time was almost red-hot. The effect was as distressing as it was unexpected. A cloud of scalding steam rushed up into his face and filled the room, the coffee-pot rolled to the floor with a clatter, and there was such a furious hissing and sputtering that poor Winn dropped his bucket of water and staggered towards the door, fully convinced that he was the ...

— Raftmates - A Story of the Great River • Kirk Munroe

... large, jagged hole something like a well. It was five or six feet across, and situated twenty or twenty-five yards from the side of the berg. Standing around this "well," the rumbling noises were more distinct than we had yet heard them, and were accompanied by a great splashing, and also by a hissing sound, as of escaping air or steam; and, on peering cautiously down into the hole, we could discern the water in motion. The iceberg heaved slightly with the swell: the gurgling and hissing appeared to ...

— Left on Labrador - or, The cruise of the Schooner-yacht 'Curlew.' as Recorded by 'Wash.' • Charles Asbury Stephens

... how we dash o'er the sand, Hissing behind us like storm-driven snow! Flash the long guns of your wild Arab band, Brandish the spears, and the light jereeds throw, As, half-winged, through the shrill ...

— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, April 1875, Vol. XV., No. 88 • Various

... name for the display of electric fire which sometimes plays about the masts of ships, steeples, &c., accompanied at times with a hissing noise; commoner in southern climates, known by other names, e. g. Fire of St. Clara, of ...

— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... minutes the hissing of the machine told that the vapor was being forced into the bag and a little later the downward motion of the ship was checked. She moved more and more slowly toward the earth, until, with a little jar, she settled down, and came to rest. But she was on such an uneven keel ...

— Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice • Victor Appleton

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