ssss.

n.  the sound of a sword blade being sheathed.

<The combined slippery sound, the high-pitched metallic ssss of polished steel against steel, again made Savage’s skin prickle.  —David Morrell, The Fifth Profession.>

n.  the sound of the letter s, as described in The Voice That Means Business: How to Speak With Authority, Confidence and Credibility Anytime, Anywhere by Linda Shields; see also sss.


n.  the sound of the letter s, as described in the novel Just Call Me Stupid by Tom Birdseye.


pron.  “what’s,” as in the colloquialism “Ssss up?” as discussed in Customers Are People: The Human Touch by John McKean.

ssss ssss ssss.

n.  the light sizzling sound of snowflakes hitting a body of water.

<[L]ow white clouds, flakes of snow swirling ahead and disappearing into the sea with a faint ssss, ssss, ssss.  —Kim Stanley Robinson, The Wild Shore: Three Californias.>

Ssss Ssss Ssss.

n.  the sound of a train.

<“Ssss Ssss Ssss,” she called, making the sound of a train.  —Geoff Ryman, The Child Garden: A Low Comedy.>

ssss ssss ssss ssss.

n.  “the idiosyncratic urgings of cowpokes” (Lawrence Scanlan, Wild About Horses: Our Timeless Passion for the Horse).

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