sssssssss.

n.  the hissing of air through teeth.

<From Jeanne, from other towel-surrounded heads along the beach I hear nothing but the occasional intake—Sssssssss—a stoic hissing through the teeth, a long exhale.  —Donald W. George, Japan: True Stories of Life on the Road.>

n.  the sound of a fine mist emerging from a can that contains a genie, as in The Unknown Witches of Oz: Locasta and the Three Adepts by Dave Hardenbrook.

sssssssss ssss sssss.

n.  the hiss of watchgeese, as in Scion of Cyador by L. E. Modesitt.

sssssssss-ttt.

n.  the sound of airbrakes on a bus.

<As he approached Houston, the bus always got more loaded with people and express, and the highway became crowded with cars and trucks and other hazards.  And then suddenly, like rolling off the edge of a table, it was over.  Sssssssss-ttt went the brakes and off went the people, the express and all of that tension.  —Jim Lehrer, White Widow.>

ssssssssshhhh.

n.  the hiss of the “iron fist” energy strike, imbued “with all the deadliness of the mystical dragon[’s] ... molten heart” (Sal Buscema, Incredible Hulk #300).

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