α. 1800s–1900s swish.
β. 1800s– sish.
sishn.
/sɪʃ/, U.S. /sɪʃ/ Newfoundland.
More fully sish ice. Fragmented, slushy sea ice. Cf. slob ice n. at slob n.2 Compounds.
ΚΠ
1836 E. Wix Six Months of Newfoundland Missionary's Jrnl. 23 The bay..was full of a species of ice, significantly called by the people, ‘swish ice,’ which, when struck with the oar, makes a sound similar to that of straw when thrashed with a stick.
1873 M. Carroll Seal & Herring Fisheries Newfoundland iii. 19 The ‘slob’ or ‘sish’ ice drifts off the land.
1908 W. T. Grenfell Voy. Pan of Ice 2 The ‘sish’ ice consists of the tiny fragments where the large pans have been pounding together on the heaving sea.
1962 D. Keir Bowring Story v. 100 Jumping over the sides of their ships, the crews ‘copied’ (or leaped) from pan to pan across open water or across melting ‘sish’ ice, encumbered with gaffs, skinning-knives and ropes.
2006 St. John's (Newfoundland) Tel. (Nexis) 2 Aug. a11 The men walked out over the solid ice until they reached an expanse of sish.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1836