# whoosh

Pronunciation: US say "WUUSH" /wʊʃ/; UK

## Noun

1. A breathy rushing sound, like that made by an object moving past at high speed.
   - Simple: A soft rushing sound, like something moving past very fast.
   - _The rocket lifted off with a deep whoosh of escaping gas._
   - _She caught the faint whoosh of skis cutting through fresh snow._
9. A handgun or other firearm. *(dialectal, Multicultural London English)*
   - Simple: A gun, especially a handgun someone carries.
   - _He pulled a whoosh on the clerk and demanded the register._
   - _She stashed her whoosh under the floorboards before the raid._
10. A homicide carried out with a gun. *(dialectal, Multicultural London English)*
   - Simple: A killing done by shooting someone with a gun.
   - _Homicide detectives caught the whoosh outside the nightclub._
   - _The neighborhood had seen two whooshes that month already._

## Verb

2. To travel past at high speed.
   - Simple: To move past something very fast.
   - _Sports cars whoosh down the highway on race weekends._
   - _A motorcycle whooshed past, startling the pedestrians._
3. To produce a soft, breathy rushing sound.
   - Simple: To make a soft rushing sound.
   - _The bellows whooshed as the blacksmith pumped air into the forge._
   - _Air vents whoosh whenever the heating system kicks on._
5. To send something past quickly, or make it rush by.
   - Simple: To make something move past quickly.
   - _The pneumatic system whooshes capsules across the building in seconds._
   - _Attendants whoosh the carts through the terminal during busy hours._
6. Of a point or joke, to pass by unnoticed, leaving someone failing to grasp it.
   - Simple: To go past someone who does not notice or understand it.
   - _The subtle irony whooshed past the audience entirely._
   - _Half my references whoosh past my teenage cousins._
8. To kill someone by shooting them with a gun. *(dialectal, Multicultural London English)*
   - Simple: To shoot and kill someone with a gun.
   - _Rival dealers whooshed two men over a disputed corner._
   - _If you cross them, they'll whoosh you without a second thought._

## Interjection

4. Said to imitate something passing by quickly and fairly close.
   - Simple: Said to copy the sound of something rushing quickly past.
   - _Whoosh! The race car blurred past the grandstand._
   - _She swung the bat and, whoosh, missed the ball completely._
7. Said to point out that someone has missed the point, that it went over their head.
   - Simple: Said when someone completely misses the point of something.
   - _Whoosh! The entire meaning sailed right by you._
   - _He explained the pun twice and still got a blank look. Whoosh._

## Origin

The word is of imitative origin, formed to echo the sound it describes.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/whoosh (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).