ssssss.

n.  the hissing of a snake.

<They all squirm and go ssssss but I know they don’t mean anything by it.  —David Maine, The Preservationist.>

n.  the sound of steam in a Chinese laundry, as described in The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston.

ssssss-ssssssshhh.

n.  a shushing sound; see also Shh, ssss, shhhht.

<I put my index finger up to my lips, whispered ‘Ssssss-ssssssshhh,’ and slipped behind the wheel of the Miata.  —Linda Fairstein, Cold Hit.>

Sssssss.

n.  the title of a film from 1973.

<I learned about evil from [Dad’s] metal FBI car radio.  The sound of evil goes like this: sssssss.  This is what I listen to when Dad drives me to St. Bede on his way to work. ... Ssssss.  Evil flies in like a dart.  It hides in the static infiltrating the car.  Ssssss.  —Maura Conlon-McIvor, FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father’s Code.>

sssssss sssss sssssss.

n.  the whispers of a town gossip.

<Mr. Crackle said crossly, “Sssssss, sssss, sssssss.  The two little town gossips.”  —Betty MacDonald, Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.>

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