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sizzle

[siz-uhl]
verb (used without object), siz·zled, siz·zling.
  1. to make a hissing sound, as in frying or burning.
  2. Informal. to be very hot: It's sizzling out.
  3. Informal. to be very angry; harbor deep resentment: I'm still sizzling over that insult.
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verb (used with object), siz·zled, siz·zling.
  1. to fry or burn with or as if with a hissing sound: to sizzle steaks on the grill; The sun sizzles the pavement.
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noun
  1. a sizzling sound.
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Origin of sizzle

1595–1605; imitative; see -le
Related formssiz·zler, nounsiz·zling·ly, adverb

Synonyms for sizzle

1. sputter, spatter, crackle, hiss.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sizzler

Contemporary Examples of sizzler

Historical Examples of sizzler

  • He is the kind of fire-cracker that you call a “sizzler”—all sputter and no explosion.

    The Fall of the Year

    Dallas Lore Sharp

  • He lined out the hottest kind of a sizzler over Chub's head and was ready to go to second when Post fielded it.

    The Crimson Sweater

    Ralph Henry Barbour

British Dictionary definitions for sizzler

sizzler

noun
  1. something that sizzles
  2. informal a very hot day
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sizzle

verb (intr)
  1. to make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat
  2. informal to be very hot
  3. informal to be very angry
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noun
  1. a hissing sound
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Word Origin for sizzle

C17: of imitative origin. Compare siss (now dialect) to hiss, West Frisian size, siizje. See also fizz and fizzle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sizzler

sizzle

v.

c.1600, "to burn with a hissing sound," perhaps a frequentative form of Middle English sissen "hiss, buzz" (c.1300), of imitative origin. The figurative sense is attested from 1859. Related: Sizzled; sizzling. The noun is first recorded 1823.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper