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definitions

whoosh

[hwoosh, hwoo sh, woosh, woo sh]
See more synonyms for whoosh on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a loud, rushing noise, as of air or water: a great whoosh as the door opened.
verb (used without object)
  1. to move swiftly with a gushing or hissing noise: gusts of wind whooshing through the trees.
verb (used with object)
  1. to move (an object, a person, etc.) with a whooshing motion or sound: The storm whooshed the waves over the road.
Also woosh.

Origin of whoosh

First recorded in 1840–50; imitative
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for whoosh

whoosh, flit, whir, hurtle, shoot, float, glide, drift, travel, sail, reach, cross, flutter, swoop, climb, circle, operate, speed, rush, pilot

Examples from the Web for whoosh

Contemporary Examples of whoosh

  • Then with a whoosh in came Elliott Woods, the contributor of a piece titled “Veterans of a Foreign War.”

    The Daily Beast logo
    A Literary Tribute

    Roxanne Coady

    September 10, 2011

Historical Examples of whoosh

  • That was my last thought as the thing let go with a "whoosh."

    Arm of the Law

    Harry Harrison

  • "I whoosh't—I woosh't was so we could hev pie," sighed one such.

    Back Home

    Eugene Wood

  • There was a whoosh of fire and a flare from the launcher's nose.

    The Secret of the Ninth Planet

    Donald Allen Wollheim

  • It folded over with a whoosh, grabbing its middle, as the toy wobbled off in eccentric flight.

    The Enormous Room

    Horace Leonard Gold

  • Bram Forest drove his left fist into the guard's belly and heard the whoosh of air escaping from his lungs.

British Dictionary definitions for whoosh

whoosh

woosh

noun
  1. a hissing or rushing sound
  2. a rush of emotiona whoosh of happiness
verb
  1. (intr) to make or move with a hissing or rushing sound
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 whoosh

1856, of imitative origin.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper