Mississippi

alternative nonstandard Missippi

1. A state of the United States.

   Mississippi mud is soaked in black blood / How many more must die?

   1970, Black Blood & The Chocolate Pickles, “Mississippi Mud”

   2 more examples

   That’s right. In fact, a law which passed in Mississippi is so restrictive, it could close the one remaining abortion clinic they have in the entire state, meaning a Mississippi woman, right now, could be saying to herself, “I need to go someplace more progressive like Alabama.”

   2014 November 2, “State Legislatures and ALEC”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 23, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

   The vote was 213-209 along party lines. Republican members of the House Ethics Committee – Michael Guest of Mississippi, Dave Joyce of Ohio, Andrew Garbarino of New York, John Rutherford of Florida and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota – voted present. GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado also voted present but he is not on the Ethics Committee.

   2023 June 21, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, “House votes to censure Democratic congressman who led Trump investigations”, in CNN

2. A major river in the United States, flowing southward from north-central Minnesota through Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Minnesota and Louisiana, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.

   Synonyms: the Big Muddy, Big River, Body of a Nation, El Grande, El Grande de Soto, the Father of Waters, the Gathering of Waters, the Great River

alternative nonstandard Missippi

1. Used in a common chronometric counting scheme, in which each iteration is sequentially numbered and supposed to equal approximately one second in length.

   Any reader who uses the old “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, etc.” method to estimate distance to a storm, and doesn't get any further than a count of five to eight had better be in a safe shelter.

   1996 September, “Cheers & Jeers”, in Field and Stream, volume 101, page 12

plural Mississippis · alternative nonstandard Missippi

1. A recitation of Mississippi (the interjection).

   I counted five Mississippis between each flash of lightning and the thunder crash that followed.

   1997, George Clark, The Small Bees’ Honey: Stories, Buffalo, NY: White Pine Press, page 129

   1 more example

   We had lungs like camel bladders by then; we sledged each other mercilessly, each daring the other to break the two-minute limit beneath the diving board. In the summer sea when it was flat-calm and there was nothing else to do but dive down and lie on the clean, ribbed bottom and hold our breaths to count Mississippis we got pretty close to our goal.

   2008, Tim Winton, chapter 3, in Breath, Picador UK Paperback 2008 edition, page 30

plural Mississippis · alternative nonstandard Missippi

1. gamesA variant of bagatelle.

alternative nonstandard Missippi

1. A river in Canada that flows from eastern Ontario into the Ottawa River.

   Synonyms: Mississippi River