sibilant (iou) and Havisham, Miss (oh)

sibilant (iou)

sibilant adjective & noun. M17.
[Latin sibilant- pres. ppl stem of sibilare hiss, whistle: see -ANT1.]
A. adjective.
1. Characterized or accompanied by a hissing sound; spec. (Phonetics) designating a fricative produced by the formation of a groove with the sides of the tongue in contact with the roof of the mouth, as English [s], [z]. M17.
b. Medicine. Of stethoscopic sounds: characterized by an abnormal whistling or hissing. M19.
Emitting a hissing or whistling sound. E19.
b. noun.
Phonetics. A sibilant speech sound or letter. L18.
A rumour started and spread deliberately for propaganda or selling purposes. M20.
sibilance noun (a) the fact or quality of being sibilant; a hissing sound; (b) an undue prominence of sibilants or hissing, esp. due to interference in reproduced sound: E19.
sibilantly adverb L19.

Havisham, Miss (oh)

a character in the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. She is a strange, rich old woman who hates men because her future husband left her on their wedding day. She still wears her wedding dress and everything in her house has been left exactly as it was on her wedding day, and is now covered in cobwebs .

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