sis-boom-bah, int. and n. U.S.
(sɪsbuːmˈbɑː)
Also -ah.
[Echoic, repr. the sound of a skyrocket: a hissing flight (sis), an explosion (boom), and an exclamation of delight from the spectators (bah, ah): see skyrocket 2.]
A shout expressive of support or encouragement to a college team. Hence as n., enthusiastic or partisan support of spectator sports, esp. football.
| [1867: see sky-rocket n. 2]. 1924 Dialect Notes V. 276 Sis-boom: ― ah, ― bah (college yells). 1961 M. Beadle These Ruins are Inhabited (1963) iv. 48 Fresh from the land of sis-boom-bah.., the Americans had a hard time at first learning to applaud good play by either team. 1970 Time 17 Aug. 64 For the next 2½ years it was girls, flasks and sis-boom-bah. But the public image concealed an all-night reader. |