Hiss

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

In the general acceptation of this word, as we now use it, it is universally, I believe, considered as a mark of reproach or contempt. And we find, that it was so used from the earliest ages. The patriarch Job, ( Job 27:23) saith, that the hypocrite shall be so confounded, that men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place. And the Lord declared, that if the people departed from following him, he would cause the house which Solomon had built for the Lord to become a proverb and a bye-word, and men should hiss at it as they passed by. ( 1 Kings 9:7-8) But, beside this acceptation of the word, certain it is, that it is also used in a favourable point of view, and sometimes means the call of the Lord to his ministers and messengers, for the performing his sovereign will and pleasure. Thus the Lord saith, that he will "lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them, that is, will call them from the end of the earth." ( Isaiah 5:26) So again the bee of Egypt, and the bee of Assyria, meaning the armies of those nations, the Lord saith, he will hiss for: that is, will call them. ( Isaiah 7:18) But the ultimate object of this hissing of the Lord, in his sovereign command, is, to bring on the perpetual reproach of the ungodly. "I will make this city desolate, and an hissing: every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and hiss because of the plagues thereof." ( Jeremiah 19:8)

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( v. t.) To condemn or express contempt for by hissing.

(2): ( v. t.) To utter with a hissing sound.

(3): ( v. i.) To make a similar noise by any means; to pass with a sibilant sound; as, the arrow hissed as it flew.

(4): ( n.) The noise made by a serpent.

(5): ( n.) The noise made by steam escaping through a narrow orifice, or by water falling on a hot stove.

(6): ( n.) A prolonged sound like that letter s, made by forcing out the breath between the tongue and teeth, esp. as a token of disapprobation or contempt.

(7): ( n.) Any sound resembling that above described

(8): ( v. i.) To make with the mouth a prolonged sound like that of the letter s, by driving the breath between the tongue and the teeth; to make with the mouth a sound like that made by a goose or a snake when angered; esp., to make such a sound as an expression of hatred, passion, or disapproval.

(9): ( n.) The note of a goose when irritated.

King James Dictionary

HISS,

1. To make a sound by driving the breath between the tongue and the upper teeth to give a strong aspiration, resembling the noise made by a serpent and some other animals, or that of water thrown on hot iron. Hissing is an expression of contempt.

The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee.  Ezekiel 27 .

2. To express contempt or disapprobation by hissing. 3. To whiz, as an arrow or other thing in rapid flight.

HISS, To condemn by hissing to explode. The spectators hissed him off the stage.

1. To procure hisses or disgrace.

--That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker.

HISS, n. The sound made by propelling the breath between the tongue and upper teeth the noise of a serpent, a goose, &c.

He hiss for hiss returned.

1. An expression of contempt or disapprobation, used in places of public exhibition.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Jeremiah 19:8 1 Kings 9:8 Jeremiah 18:16 Jeremiah 19:8 Lamentations 2:15-16

Other nations and cities were also the objects of hissing: Edom ( Jeremiah 49:17 ); Babylon ( Jeremiah 50:13 ); Tyre ( Ezekiel 27:36 ); and Nineveh ( Zephaniah 2:15 ). Hissing was sometimes accompanied by wagging the head, clapping hands, gnashing teeth ( Lamentations 2:15-16 ), and shaking the fist ( Zephaniah 2:15 ).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Job 27:23 1 Kings 9:8 Zechariah 10:8

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

his ( שׁרק , shāraḳ ): "To hiss" has two applications: (1) to call, (2) to express contempt or scorn.

(1) It is the translation of shāraḳ , a mimetic word meaning to hiss or whistle, to call (bees, etc.), ( a )   Isaiah 5:26 , "I will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth," the Revised Version (British and American) "hiss for them (margin "him") from the end of the earth";  Isaiah 7:18 , "Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"; namely, Egyptians whose land was noted for flies (  Isaiah 18:1 ) and Assyrians whose country was pre-eminently one of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to bees in  Deuteronomy 1:44;  Psalm 118:12 (Skinner's Isaiah ):  Zechariah 10:8 , "I will hiss for them, and gather them" (His own people, who will come at His call).

(2) More often, to hiss is to express contempt or derision ( 1 Kings 9:8;  Job 27:23;  Jeremiah 19:8 , etc.). In this sense we have also frequently a hissing (  2 Chronicles 29:8;  Jeremiah 19:8;  Jeremiah 25:9 ,  Jeremiah 25:18;  Jeremiah 29:18;  Jeremiah 51:37;  Micah 6:16 , sherēḳāh );  Jeremiah 18:16 , sherı̄ḳōth or sherūḳōth  ; Ecclesiasticus 22:1, "Every one will hiss him (the slothful man) out in his disgrace" ( eksurı́ssō , "to hiss out"); The Wisdom of Solomon 17:9, "hissing of serpents" ( surigmós ).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( שָׁרִק , Sharak', to Whistle), a term usually expressing insult and contempt ( Job 27:23); so in the denunciation of the destruction of the Temple ( 1 Kings 9:8; comp.  Jeremiah 19:8;  Jeremiah 49:17, etc.). To call any one with hissing is a mark of power and authority ( Isaiah 5:26), and the prophet Zechariah ( Zechariah 10:8), speaking of the return from Babylon, says that the Lord will gather the house of Judah, as it were with a hiss, and bring them back into their own country: an image familiar to his readers, as Theodoret and Cyril of Alexandria remark that, in Syria and Palestine, those who looked after bees drew them out of their hives, carried them into the fields, and brought them back again, with the sound of a flute and the noise of hissing ( Isaiah 7:18). (See Bee).