shoosh

1. A whooshing noise.

   There came suddenly out of the surrounding din of battle four quick car-filling rushes of sound--sh-sh-sh-shoosh--ba-ba-ba-bang!

   2008 April 15 [1916], Boyd Cable, “"The Cost"”, in Between The Lines, Toronto: Mcclelland, Goodchild, & Stewart, via Gutenberg

   2 more examples

   Plain enough," said the man who had been studying his foot on the chair. "Some one pulled the plug." "And away she goes--shoosh!" said the big man dramatically. "Kennedy & Balch buying right and left. Open at a hundred and twenty-five to-morrow, sure!" said the quiet one quietly. Placed an order yesterday for four hundred shares and got 'em," said another, not so quietly. "And to-day they're bidding Federal Express up to the ceiling."

   2005 May 2 [1913], Harry Leon Wilson, “Chapter XI”, in Bunker Bean, Garden City, New York: DOUBLEDAY, PAGE, via Gutenberg

   Suddenly Manakin twisted his torso, flung up his arms, and went, 'Shoosh!' It was so fine an imitation of a gunshot that everyone jumped.

   1995, Felix Roziner, translated by Michael Henry Heim, A Certain Finkelmeyer, Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 89

2. A rhythmic whispering noise.

   Many women hear the shoosh—shoosh of the unborn heart at the first prenatal exam and see the face of their moving, growing unborn child in an ultrasound image early in the second trimester.

   1988, Camille S. Williams, “Abortion and Equality Under the Law”, in Neil L. York, editor, Toward A More Perfect Union: Six Essays on the Constitution, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 151

3. The sound of skis scraping on snow.

   Shoosh! Shoosh! Ouch! The tragic deaths of Sonny Bono and Michael Kennedy remind us that sliding down the side of a mountain, like any recreational activity, must be approached with safety in mind.

   2002, John C. Myre, Live Safely in a Dangerous World, Safety Times, →ISBN, page 182

plural shooshes

1. A whooshing noise.
2. A rhythmic whispering noise.

   As I drove through the vacant lot, the only sounds were the crunch of gravel beneath my tires and the yawp of blue jays overhead and the shoosh of wind through the pines.

   2012 [1990], Scott Russell Sanders, “"After the Flood"”, in Earth Works: Selected Essays, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 97

   1 more example

   I'm a small sea captain, tasting the day's weather—battering rams at the seawall, a spray of grapeshot on my mother's brave geraniums, or the lulling shoosh-shoosh of a full mirrory pool

   2008 [1962], Sylvia Plath, “Ocean 1212-W”, in Johnny Panic and the bible of dreams : short stories, prose, and diary excerpts, New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, →ISBN, page 20

3. The sound of skis scraping on snow.

   He visually picked his way through the alpine, hearing the shoosh of his skis in the otherwise silent world.

   2018, Dani Collins, On the Edge, Tule, →ISBN, page 34

   1 more example

   The only sound a skier brings to the woods is the occasional creak of a rucksack strap and the faint “shoosh” of skis gliding over the crisp snow.

   1970, Pat Snook, “Ski Touring”, in National Wildlife, volume 8, numbers Dec 1969–Jan 1970, page 23

present singular third person shooshes · participle present shooshing · participle past shooshed · past shooshed

1. To make or cause to make a shoosh; to move with a shoosh.

   She shooshed from the glades and stopped in front of me.

   1990, Leath Tonino, “Seven Lengths of Vermont”, in The Animal One Thousand Miles Long: Seven Lengths of Vermont and Other Adventures, Trinity University Press, →ISBN, page 167

   1 more example

   The makings were neatly laid out on a side-table, and to pour into a glass an inch or so of the raw spirit and shoosh some soda-water on top of it was with me the work of a moment.

   1934, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 11, in Right Ho, Jeeves

2. To shush, to hush, to be quiet; to tell someone to be quiet.

   "Sh!" "I won't shoosh!["]

   1916, George Barr McCutcheon, From the Housetops, Chicago; New York: M. A. Donohue, page 110

   2 more examples

   She raised two fingers to Boogaloo's lips, lightly touched them, shooshed him quiet.

   2012, Fred Arroyo, “A Case of Consolation”, in Western Avenue and Other Fictions (Camino del Sol), Tucson: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 8

   Actually, what she'd be telling him now was to get Ed home. Because he was really crying. 'Shoosh Ed, shoosh little Eddie-boy.'

   2021, Breton Dukes, “What Sort of Man”, in What Sort of Man and other stories, Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press, →ISBN

3. To ski, especially in a gentle downhill curve.

   Teaching aside, a lot of the time it's my job to translate — ski lingo, that is. Like when people ask me what it is to 'shoosh'. And I'll explain it's carving turns down gentle slopes.

   1989 September 28, “Talk about fun! Canada: The world next door [advertisement]”, in Skiing, volume 42, number 1, page 279

   2 more examples

   The lift capacity, ever growing to meet demand, already enables 10,000 skiers to be whisked to the "top of the world " every hour, so enthusiasts spend a lot more time shooshing than standing around.

   1974 October 28, Skiing, volume 27, number 2, page 8

   One crisp day in 1950, Head stood in the bowl of Tuckerman's Ravine in New Hampshire and watched instructor Clif Taylor come skimming over the lip of the headwall, do a fishtail on the fall line and sweep into a long, graceful curve, shooshing to a stop in front of the beaming inventor.

   1980 September 29, Ray Kennedy, “Howard Head says 'I'm giving up the Thing World'”, in Sports Illustrated, volume 53, number 14, pages 68–69