FromMiddle Englishhissen, probably ofonomatopoeic origin. CompareMiddle Dutchhissen,hisschen(“to chase away, shoo”),Middle Low Germanhissen(“to chase, hound, incite”).

• IPA^(key):/hɪs/

• Audio(US):

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• Rhymes:-ɪs

hiss (pluralhisses)

1. Asibilantsound, such as that made by asnake or escaping steam; anunvoicedfricative.
   • 1591 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:

     Their music frightful as the serpent’shiss,
     And boding screech-owls make the concert full!

   • 1667,John Milton, “Book VI”, inParadise Lost. […], London:[…] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC, lines212-213:

     […] over head the dismalhiss
     Of fiery Darts in flaming volies flew,

   • 1717,John Dryden [et al.], “Book 13. [The Story of Acis, Polyphemus and Galatea.]”, inOvid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London:[…]Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC:

     A hundred Reeds, of a prodigious Growth,
     Scarce made a Pipe, proportion’d to his Mouth:
     Which, when he gave it Wind, the Rocks around,
     And watry Plains, the dreadfulHiss resound.

   • 1874,Thomas Hardy, “Blame—Fury”, inFar from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London:Smith, Elder & Co., […],→OCLC,page13:

     […] his form was soon covered over by the twilight as his footsteps mixed in with the lowhiss of the leafy trees.

   • 1951,William Styron, chapter 6, inLie Down in Darkness‎^[1], New York: Vintage, published1992, page292:

     Her voice was ahiss, like gas escaping from a bottle of soda.

2. Anexpression ofdisapproval made using such a sound.
   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar),John Foxe,Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London:[…]Iohn Day, […],→OCLC, book V, Part 2, The Oration ofByshop Brookes in closing vp this examination agaynstDoctour Cranmer Archbishop of Caunterbury,,page[1878]:

     […] in open disputations ye haue bene openly conuict, ye haue bene openly driuen out of the schole withhisses[…]

   • 1716,Joseph Addison,The Free-Holder, 16 April, 1716, London: D. Midwinter and J. Tonson, pp. 203-204,^[2]

     The Actors, in the midst of an innocent old Play, are often startled with unexpected Claps orHisses; and do not know whether they have been talking like good Subjects, or have spoken Treason.

   • 1869,Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIX, inThe Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […],→OCLC:

     Once or twice she was encored five and six times in succession, and received withhisses when she appeared, and discharged withhisses and laughter when she had finished—then instantly encored and insulted again!

hiss (third-person singular simple presenthisses,present participlehissing,simple past and past participlehissed)

1. (intransitive) To make ahiss, a sibilant sound of air escaping.

   As I started to poke it, the snakehissed at me.

   • 1567,Ovid, “The Twelfth Booke”, inArthur Golding, transl.,The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London:[…]Willyam Seres […],→OCLC,folio 152, recto:

     And in his wound the seared blood did make a gréeuous sound,
     As when a peece of stéele red who tane vp with tongs is drownd
     In water by the smith, it spirts andhisseth in the trowgh.

   • 1797,Ann Ward Radcliffe, chapter 7, inThe Italian, volume II, London: T. Cadell Jun. & W. Davies, page 236:

     The man came back, and said something in a lower voice, to which the other replied, “she sleeps,” or Ellena was deceived by thehissing consonants of some other words.

   • 1995,Rohinton Mistry, chapter 10, inA Fine Balance‎^[3], Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, page487:

     The frying panhissed and sizzled as Ishvar gently slid ping-pong sized balls into the glistening oil.

2. (transitive) Tocall someone by hissing.
   • 1961 November 10,Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, inCatch-22 […], New York, N.Y.:Simon and Schuster,→OCLC,page172:

     I stepped out of my tent in Marrakech one night to get a bar of candy and caught your dose of clap when that Wac I never even saw beforehissed me into the bushes.

3. (transitive,intransitive) To condemn or express contempt (for someone or something) by hissing.

   The crowd booed andhissed her off the stage.

   • 1599 (first performance),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene ii]:

     If the tag-rag people did not clap him andhiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man.

   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Ezekiel27:36:

     The merchants among the people shallhiss at thee[…]

   • 1653,Henry More, chapter XII, inAn Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London:[…] Roger Daniel, […],→OCLC, book II,page102:

     VVherefore thisReligious affection vvhich nature has implanted, and as ſtrongly rooted in Man as the feare of death or the love of vvomen, vvould be the moſt enormous ſlip or bungle ſhe could commit, ſo that ſhe vvould ſo ſhamefully faile in the laſt Act, in this contrivance of the nature of Man, that inſtead of aPlaudite ſhe vvould deſerve to behiſſed off the Stage.

   • 1793,Elizabeth Inchbald,Every One Has His Fault‎^[4], London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, Prologue:

     The Play, perhaps, has many things amiss:
     Well, let us then reduce the point to this,
     Let only those that have no failings,hiss.

   • 1803,Robert Charles Dallas,The History of the Maroons‎^[5], London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 145:

     As the culprits went through the town and plantations they were laughed at,hissed, and hooted by the slaves[…]

   • 1961,Walker Percy,The Moviegoer‎^[6], New York: Ivy Books, published1988, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 38:

     How well I remember, her stepmother told her, the days when we Wagnerians used tohiss old Brahms—O for the rapturous rebellious days of youth.

4. (transitive) Toutter (something) with a hissing sound.
   • 1761,Robert Lloyd,An Epistle toC. Churchill‎^[7], London: William Flexney, page 7:

     Lies oft o’erthrown with ceaseless Venom spread,
     Stillhiss out Scandal from theirHydra Head,

   • 1855,Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, inMaud, and Other Poems, London:Edward Moxon, […],→OCLC,page20:

     the long-necked geese of the world that are everhissing dispraise[…]

   • 2011 December 14, John Elkington, “John Elkington”, inThe Guardian‎^[8]:

     It turns out that the driver of the red Ferrari that caused the crash wasn't, as I first guessed, a youngster, but a 60-year-old. Clearly, he had energy to spare, which was more than could be said about a panel I listened to around the same time as the crash. Indeed, someonehissed in my ear during a First Magazine awards ceremony in London's imposing Marlborough House on 7 December: "What we need is more old white men on the stage."

   • 2012,Hilary Mantel,Bring Up the Bodies, New York: Henry Holt, Part 2, “Master of Phantoms,”

     All day from the queen’s rooms, shouting, slamming doors, running feet:hissed conversations in undertones.

5. (intransitive) Tomove with a hissing sound.

   The arrowhissed through the air.

   • 1718,Alexander Pope, transl.,TheIliad ofHomer‎^[9], London: Bernard Lintott,Volume 4, Book 15, lines 690-691, p. 192:

     The Troops ofTroy recede with sudden Fear,
     While the swift Javelinhiss’d along in Air.

   • 1815,William Wordsworth, “Influence of Natural Objects”, inPoems by William Wordsworth‎^[10], volume 1, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, page46:

     All shod with steel
     Wehissed along the polished ice[…]

   • 1891,Thomas Hardy, chapter XXIII, inTess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume II, London:James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […],→OCLC, phase the third (The Rally),page20:

     All the preceding afternoon and night heavy thunderstorms hadhissed down upon the meads, and washed some of the hay into the river[…]

   • 1997,Annie Proulx, “Brokeback Mountain”, inClose Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories‎^[11], London: Harper Perennial, published2005, page283:

     Ennis del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking the trailer,hissing in around the aluminum door and window frames.

6. (transitive) Toemit oreject (something) with a hissing sound.
   • 1938,Graham Greene,Brighton Rock‎^[12], London: Heinemann, Part 2, Chapter 1, p. 72:

     The man in white pyjamashissed soda into his glass.

   • 1939,John Steinbeck, chapter 26, inThe Grapes of Wrath‎^[13], New York: Viking, page500:

     The radiator bubbled andhissed steam.

   • 1976,Ira Levin,The Boys from Brazil‎^[14], New York: Dell, published1977,Part 1, p. 16:

     Hehissed air intently through a gap in his upper teeth.

7. (transitive) To whisper, especially angrily or urgently.
   • 1881, Elim Henry D'Avigdor,Across Country‎^[15], Bradbury, Agnew:

     "Are you quite sure of it," shehissed into his ear, "Mr Fang, Junior?"

   • 1968, James A. Emanuel, Theodore L. Gross,Dark symphony,→ISBN:

     "Oh please," she said, "don't let him see us!" I wouldn't let her push me away. "Stop!" shehissed. "He'llsee us!"

• hizz

• IHSS,Shis

Borrowed fromArabicحِسّ(ḥiss).

• IPA^(key):[hisː]

• Audio:

  (file)

hiss (definite accusativehissi,pluralhisslər)

1. feeling,sensation

   Synonym:duyğu

The final double consonant in Azerbaijani nouns is usually reduced in the locative and ablative singular and plural;hiss andküll are exceptions to this rule, as they would otherwise be confused withhis andkül (“Azərbaycan dilində hansı sözlərin yazılışının dəyişəcəyi açıqlanıb”, inReport.az‎^[16], 2018 January).

• hiss etmək(“to feel”)

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hiss

1. singularimperative ofhissen
2. (colloquial)first-personsingularpresent ofhissen

hiss

1. Alternative form ofhis(“his”)

Fromh +‎-iss.

hiss m (definite singularhissen,indefinite pluralhissar,definite pluralhissane)

1. (music)B-sharp

Fromhissa(“hoist”). Attested since 1824.

• Audio:

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hiss c

1. anelevator, alift

   attåkahiss

   to ride anelevator

   tahissen till elfte våningen

   takethe elevator to the eleventh floor

• hiss inSvensk ordbok (SO)
• hiss inSvenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• hiss inSvenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)