psst.

n.  a horse’s hiss.

<Writing a preface is like ... pressing one’s left leg to the horse, pulling the reins to the right, and hearing the steed say “psst” and telling the whole world to get lost.  —Soren Kierkegaard, quoted in Soren Kierkegaard: A Biography by Joakim Garff.>

n.  a sound used surreptitiously to get attention; see also fsst, psss, pssst, ssstt.

<When he had put about a mile between him and the dragon he stopped and collapsed against a tree, which then spoke to him.  “Psst,” it said.  Dreading what he might see, Rincewind let his gaze slide upward.  ... Finally it fixed on a black sword thrust straight through the branch above Rincewind’s head.  “Don’t just stand there,” said the sword (in a voice like the sound of a finger dragged around the rim of a large empty wine glass).  “Pull me out.”  —Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic.>

n.  a type of clam.

<Throw in some sweetbreads, throw in some mountain oysters and some psst clams!  —Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer.>

n.  the hiss of a soda can, as in the comic strip “PvP” by Scott R. Kurtz; see also pfffsss, psssshhhh.


n.  the sound of a jet car flying past, as in the graphic novella Hearts and Minds by Scott McCloud.


n.  the sound of an office coffee machine that dispenses via hypodermic needle, in the comic book Hyperco by Aaron K.

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