psss psss.

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.>

psss pssss psss psss psss.

n.  a sound to lure a cat into bed, as in the play Stop Kiss by Diana Son.

psss psssssss psssss pss.

n.  the sound of whispering into the ear of one’s Zen master.

<Some Zen schools only want to see you answer this question by going up to the teacher and making a whispering sound in the teacher’s ear. “Psss, psssssss, psssss, pss.”  —Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen.>

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