Also 6 whysshe. [Imitative.] Hence Whishing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1. intr. To utter the syllable ‘whish’ or a sound resembling it; trans. to drive or chase by crying ‘whish!’
1518. Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.), II. 133. [He] whysshyd them booth owte of the churche.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, B iij b. With whysperynges and whysshynges.
1842. Blackw. Mag., Aug., 243/1. He [sc. an ostler] had relieved the process of whish—whishing at the horses, in imparting [etc.].
1897. J. Hocking, Birthright, ii. We heard them ‘whishing’ up the sheep.
2. To make a soft sibilant sound of this kind, as a body rushing through air or water, or the wind among trees, etc.
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, Aa iv b. What a whishynge of the wynde is yonder.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Bruma spirans … whishyng with winde.
1856. S. Rogers, Table-Talk, 11. You could hear the whishing sound of the ladies’ trains.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Prof. Breakf.-t., vi. The lightning-express-train whishes by a station.
