susurrus

plural susurruses

1. literaryA whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

   The soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.

   1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II)

   5 more examples

   [Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was] pelted with buckets of water by firemen, and, finally, currycombed and rubbed down by two grooms, keeping a sharp susurrus between them, so as to soothe his wounded feelings; […]

   1847 February, Thomas De Quincey, “Notes on Walter Savage Landor”, in Leaders in Literature with a Notice of Traditional Errors Affecting Them (De Quincey’s Works; IX), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, pages 312–313

   They heard the Green Fork before they saw it, an endless susurrus, like the growl of some great beast.

   2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 555

   I sipped at a drink and smoked cigarettes in a silence so profound that I could hear the susurrus of the blindfold's soft fabric rustle and slip between my fingers.

   2004, Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram: A Novel, →ISBN, page 613

   I walked steadily toward the pennant pole amid a sea of susurrus murmurings.

   2007, Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind, →ISBN, page 301

   Bod could feel the Sleer listening to Jack's words, could feel a low susurrus of excitement building in the chamber.

   2008, Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book, →ISBN, page 262