whoosh

Pluralwhooshes

Formswhooshes, whooshing, whooshed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A breathy rushing sound, like that made by an object moving past at high speed.

   The rocket lifted off with a deep whoosh of escaping gas.

   She caught the faint whoosh of skis cutting through fresh snow.

   Similarswoosh, rush, swish, whiz

   Note

   The sound the whole word is built from: whoosh is imitative, its letters shaped to echo a rush of air. It pairs naturally with of, as in a whoosh of sound or a whoosh of escaping gas. It often takes a word of timing or force, as in John Branch's "Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek" (2012), where a wall of snow arrives with only a last-second whoosh.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To travel past at high speed.

   Sports cars whoosh down the highway on race weekends.

   A motorcycle whooshed past, startling the pedestrians.

   Similarzoom, whiz, speed, race, rush

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To produce a soft, breathy rushing sound.

   The bellows whooshed as the blacksmith pumped air into the forge.

   Air vents whoosh whenever the heating system kicks on.

   Similarswoosh, hiss, whir

4. 4
   interjection

   Said to imitate something passing by quickly and fairly close.

   Whoosh! The race car blurred past the grandstand.

   She swung the bat and, whoosh, missed the ball completely.

   Similarzoom

   Note

   An interjection dropped into the middle of a story at the moment something flashes past. Paul Vautin's Turn It Up! (1995) has a bowler send down an easy ball "and whoosh, what a shot." It is set off by commas or a dash and plays no grammatical role in the sentence. It works for speed, near misses and sudden success alike.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To send something past quickly, or make it rush by.

   The pneumatic system whooshes capsules across the building in seconds.

   Attendants whoosh the carts through the terminal during busy hours.

   Similarwhisk, shoot, rush, zip

6. 6
   verbfigurativelytransitive or intransitive

   Of a point or joke, to pass by unnoticed, leaving someone failing to grasp it.

   The subtle irony whooshed past the audience entirely.

   Half my references whoosh past my teenage cousins.

   Similarsail

   Note

   A figurative stretch of the "pass by quickly" verb: what speeds past is now a joke or an idea, and the person who misses it is left standing. It usually takes past or over plus the person, as in "the irony whooshed past them" or "it whooshed over his head." The subject is the point that was missed, never the person who failed to catch it.

7. 7
   interjectionsarcastic

   Said to point out that someone has missed the point, that it went over their head.

   Whoosh! The entire meaning sailed right by you.

   He explained the pun twice and still got a blank look. Whoosh.

   Note

   A sarcastic retort aimed at someone who has just missed the point, standing alone as the whole reply. Because it mocks the listener, it is teasing among friends and can come across as rude elsewhere. Where the "missed the point" verb reports what happened, this word says it to someone's face, compressing "that went right over your head" into a single sound.

8. 8
   verbdialectalMulticultural London Englishtransitive

   To kill someone by shooting them with a gun.

   Rival dealers whooshed two men over a disputed corner.

   If you cross them, they'll whoosh you without a second thought.

   Similarshoot, kill

   Note

   The verb at the center of the slang, heard in song lyrics. A.M's "I Ain't A Yardie" (2020) asks how many people have met this fate, comparing them to someone named Jackson. Notice that the verb favors the passive, as in got whooshed or been whooshed, which makes the victim the subject. Tight Road Baby's "Plugged In" (2022) adds the weapon with with, naming a stick.

9. 9
   noundialectalMulticultural London Englishcountable

   A handgun or other firearm.

   He pulled a whoosh on the clerk and demanded the register.

   She stashed her whoosh under the floorboards before the raid.

   Similargun, piece, pistol, handgun

   Note

   Here the slang names the weapon itself, from the same Multicultural London English vocabulary as the word for a shooting. Because the noun can mean either the gun or the killing, context does the sorting: someone carries, pulls or hides a whoosh, but a whoosh happens somewhere. Treat it as dialect vocabulary to quote or depict, not to borrow.

10. 10
    noundialectalMulticultural London Englishcountable

    A homicide carried out with a gun.

    Homicide detectives caught the whoosh outside the nightclub.

    The neighborhood had seen two whooshes that month already.

    Similarshooting, killing

    Note

    Slang from Multicultural London English, where whoosh has become vocabulary for gun violence. This sense names the killing, the noun for a gun names the weapon, and the verb "to shoot" names the act. Outside that variety most listeners will hear only the rushing sound, so it is safest to use it when quoting or depicting that speech rather than as general English.

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