to hiss
31
1.9
- verb
- /hɪs/
:
sisear
- The little velociraptor opened her jaws and hissed at Grant, in a posture of sudden intense fury.
- cats hissing
- hissing snakes
- hissing steam
When they're very angry, they go black with fury and they, they hiss.
- When they're very angry, they go black with fury and they, they hiss.
- The Luna voice, soft and cautious because of the powder, hisses.
- On the bank, bare brambles catch snow waded with rain, the falls straight down, hissing as it hits the ice.
- Speaking in double tongues, snakes writhe and hiss surround the heart.
- She looks older and stronger, and she doesn't even flinch when the Ocean Queen hiss.
Examples
-
The audience began to hiss in disapproval when the actor mispronounced the lines.
-
- The pussycat hissed at me!
-
Go away, she hissed, and take your lies with you.
-
She does get very scared and she'll hiss and growl.
-
A tube was passed into his trachea, and oxygen hissed into the room.
Fiction book (1991) -
For a while, the fire hissed and crackled in a comfortable silence.
Fiction book (1990) -
The kettle hissed on the woodstove; he was holding a wet dishtowel.
Academic text (2007) -
Long snakelike things slithered over the crumbled stones, hissing as they went.
Fiction book (1991) -
The cat swaggered away, hissing, its corpulent stomach dragging against the carpet.
Fiction book (1991) -
Sprinklers spurted on, air conditioners hissed, and bats skitted from tree to tree.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
25
3.7
To make a hissing, crackling sound when hot, as in frying
To make a sharp hissing sound to show disapproval
To make a hissing sound like s or sh when speaking
Antonyms
How Disapproving
Surface Forms
Etymology
Hiss originally imitates the sound 'sss' of air moving or steam escaping, like a snake or a train. Because it copies that moving-air noise, to hiss means to make that sharp sound with steam, wind, or machines.