psss.

n.  the hissing of air from a punctured bicycle tire.

<Psss. ... Nothing hisses quite so sweetly as a rival’s puncture.  —Tim Krabbe, The Rider.>

n.  the hissing of water in a leaking submarine.

<They are the ones whose pulse-rate doesn’t alter when, 5,000 meters down, they hear psss! and a needle-jet of sea-water springs from a connector hole.  —James Hamilton-Paterson, Three Miles Down: A Firsthand Account of Deep Sea Exploration and A Hunt for Sunken World War II Treasure.>

psss psss.

n.  a shushing sound.

<‘Psss, psss,’ Towanda said, shushing her.  —Denis Johnson, Fiskadoro.>

n.  the sound of using friction to start a fire.

<“You make a bow and spin the arrow,” said Roger.  He rubbed his hands in mime.  “Psss.  Psss.”  —William Golding, Lord of the Flies.>

psss psss psss.

n.  the excited, insistent buzzing of the Rough-Legged Tyrannulet bird, as described in A Guide to the Birds of Columbia by Steven L. Hilty; the call of the White-Fronted Tyrannulet bird.

<In Costa Rica [the White-Fronted Tyrannulet has been] heard to give an excited-sounding insistent psss psss psss.  —Robert S. Ridgely, A Guide to the Birds of Panama.>

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