hiss
/hɪs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.05 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An expression of disapproval made using such a sound.
verb
To condemn or express contempt (for someone or something) by hissing.
Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Their music frightful as the serpent’s hiss, And boding screech-owls make the concert full!"
- "[…] over head the dismal hiss Of fiery Darts in flaming volies flew,"
- "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 dreadful Hiss resound."
- "[…] his form was soon covered over by the twilight as his footsteps mixed in with the low hiss of the leafy trees."
- "Her voice was a hiss, like gas escaping from a bottle of soda."
- "[…] in open disputations ye haue bene openly conuict, ye haue bene openly driuen out of the schole with hisses […]"
Etymology
From Middle English hissen, probably of onomatopoeic origin (compare Arabic هَسْهَسَ (hashasa)). Compare Middle Dutch hissen, hisschen (“to chase away, shoo”), Middle Low German hissen (“to chase, hound, incite”).