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Making a hissing sound; uttered with a hissing sound; hissing; as, s, z, sh, and zh, are sibilant elementary sounds. -- n.

To pronounce with a hissing sound, like that of the letter s; to mark with a character indicating such pronunciation.

Utterance with a hissing sound; also, the sound itself; a hiss. He, with a long, low sibilation, stared. Tennyson.

Hissing; sibilant.

Having a hissing sound; hissing; sibilant. [R.] Pennant.

The act of whistling or hissing; a whistling sound; sibilation. [Obs.] A. Brewer.

To boil gently, or with a gentle hissing; to begin to boil. I simmer as liquor doth on the fire before it beginneth to boil. Palsgrave.

To make a hissing sound; as, a flatiron hot enough to siss when touched with a wet finger. [Colloq. U. S.; Local, Eng.]

To make a hissing sound; to fry, or to dry and shrivel up, with a hissing sound. [Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U. S.] Forby.

alline solid, SO3, obtained by oxidation of sulphur dioxide. It dissolves in water with a hissing noise and the production of heat, forming sulphuric acid, and is employed as a dehydrating agent. Called also sulphuric anhydride, and formerly sulphuric acid. -- Sulphur whale. (Zoöl.) See Sulphur-bottom. -- Vegetable s…

The swastika is found in remains from the Bronze Age in various parts of Europe, esp. at Hissarlik (Troy), and was in frequent use as late as the 10th century. It is found in ancient Persia, in India, where both Jains and Buddhists used (or still use) it as religious symbol, in China and Japan, and among Indian tribes…

ble. Cf. Rag, tag, and bobtail, under Bobtail. If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, I am no true man. Shak.

To produce; to bring forth. [R.] That [grief] of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker; Each minute teems a new one. Shak.

; incapable or error or failure certain; sure; unfailing; as, the unerring wisdom of God. Hissing in air the unerring weapon flew. Dryden.

To make a humming or hissing sound, like an arrow or ball flying through the air; to fly or move swiftly with a sharp hissing or whistling sound. [Written also whizz.] It flew, and whizzing, cut the liquid way. Dryden.

; Who fall, who rise, who triumph, who do moan. Daniel. Adders who with cloven tongues Do hiss into madness. Shak. Whom I could pity thus forlorn. Milton. How hard is our fate, who serve in the state. Addison. Who cheapens life, abates the fear of death. Young. The brace of large greyhounds, who were the companions of…

ut; to surround; to encircle. In the flowers that wreathe the sparkling bowl, Fell adders hiss. Prior.

A hissing or sibilant sound such as that made by a flying bullet.