colloq. Also 8 phiz. [f. next vb. Cf. the earlier FISE.]
1. A hissing sound.
1843. S. Lover, Handy Andy, i. Andy, when he saw the soda-water jumping out of the bottle, held it from him at arm’s length; every fizz it made, exclaiming, ‘Ow!—ow!—ow!’
1855. O. W. Holmes, Poems, Verses for After-Dinner, 177.
| No rubbing will kindle your Lucifer match, | |
| If the fiz does not follow the primitive scratch. |
1870. Thornbury, Tour Eng., II. xxx. 268. He [St. Cuthbert] forbade the visits of women to this basaltic rock; and once, while preaching a sermon, turned an apparently beautiful woman, who was ogling him, into a palpable devil, who flew off in a fizz of fire, as if she had been scalded.
2. a. A disturbance, fuss.
a. 1734. North, Exam., I. ii. § 83 (1740), 74. What a Phiz of a Scandal is here upon the King.
1804. Tarras, Poems, 107.
| ‘Douce wife,’ quoth I, ‘what means the fizz, | |
| That ye shaw sic a frightfu’ gizz, | |
| Anent a kyte-clung poet?’ |
b. Animal spirits or ‘go.’
1856. Mrs. Stowe, Dred, I. xvii. 235. Just enough fizz in her to keep one from flatting out.
1884. Pall Mall G., 2 April, 5. Mr Little has fizz and go enough to make excellent capital out of a broomstick.
3. concr. Something that fizzes; an effervescing drink, esp. champagne.
1864. Punch, XLVII. 100, ‘The Turkophone.’
| So away we went to supper, | |
| For hungry we had grown, | |
| And ordered some FIZZ, which the right thing is, | |
| With a devilled turkey bone. |
1879. E. K. Bates, Nile Days; or, Egyptian Bonds, II. ix. 226. Let’s have a bottle of fiz, old fellow; they have some capital dry Heidsieck here.
