Fĭzz or Fĭz'zle1, v. i.
v. i. [Icel. fisa, to ventilate, Dan. fise, to foist, fizzle, O. Sw. fisa, Ger. fiesten, feisten; Sw. fis, a blowing, Gr. φῦσα, L. Lat. vissium.]
Sense 1. To make a hissing sound.
It is the easiest thing, sir, to be done, as plain as fizzling. B. Jonson.
Sense 2. To fail of success in an undertaking; to bungle.
To fizzle out, to burn with a hissing noise and then go out, like wet gunpowder; hence, to fail completely and ridiculously; to prove a failure.