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Hiss vs Swish - What's the difference?

hiss | swish |

In lang=en terms the difference between hiss and swish

is that hiss is to utter with a hissing sound while swish is to flourish with a swishing sound.

As nouns the difference between hiss and swish

is that hiss is a high-pitched sound made by a snake, cat, escaping steam, etc while swish is a short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.

As verbs the difference between hiss and swish

is that hiss is to make a hissing sound while swish is to make a rustling sound while moving.

As an adjective swish is

(british|colloquial) sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.

hiss

English

Noun

(es)
  • A high-pitched sound made by a snake, cat, escaping steam, etc.
  • An expression of disapproval made to sound like the noise of a snake.

    • Verb

  • To make a hissing sound.
    • As I started to poke it, the snake hissed at me.
    The arrow hissed through the air.
  • * Wordsworth
    • Shod with steel, / We hissed along the polished ice.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=John Elkington , title=John Elkington , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=It turns out that the driver of the red Ferrari that caused the crash wasn't, as I first guessed, a youngster, but a 60-year-old. Clearly, he had energy to spare, which was more than could be said about a panel I listened to around the same time as the crash. Indeed, someone hissed in my ear during a First Magazine awards ceremony in London's imposing Marlborough House on 7 December: "What we need is more old white men on the stage."}}
  • To condemn or express contempt for by hissing.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 36
    • The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee.
  • * Shakespeare
    • if the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them
  • To utter with a hissing sound.
  • * Tennyson
    • the long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise

    swish

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • (British, colloquial) sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.
    • This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.
  • Attractive, stylish
  • * 2014 , , " Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter", The Guardian , 18 October 2014:
    • The Saints, who started the day third in the table, went marching on thanks to their own swish play and some staggering defending by the visitors.
  • effeminate.

    • Noun

    (es)
  • A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.
  • A sound of liquid flowing inside a container.
  • *1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
  • *:There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of casks being moved.
  • A movement of an animal's tail
  • A twig or bundle of twigs, used for administering beatings; a switch
  • (basketball) A successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
  • An effeminate male homosexual.

    • Related terms

    * swoosh * whoosh

    Verb

    (es)
  • To make a rustling sound while moving.
    • The cane swishes .
  • To flourish with a swishing sound.
    • to swish a cane back and forth
    (Coleridge)
  • (transitive, slang, dated) To flog; to lash.
    • (Thackeray)
  • (basketball) To make a successful basketball shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.
  • (gay slang) To mince or otherwise to behave in an effeminate manner.
    • I shall not swish ; I'll merely act limp-wristed.