Definition of "Mississippi"

That’s right. In fact, a law which passed in Mississippi is so restrictive, it could close the one remaining abortion clinic they have in the entire state, meaning a Mississippi woman, right now, could be saying to herself, “I need to go someplace more progressive like Alabama.”

2014 November 2, “State Legislatures and ALEC”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 23, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

Any reader who uses the old “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, etc.” method to estimate distance to a storm, and doesn't get any further than a count of five to eight had better be in a safe shelter.

1996 September, “Cheers & Jeers”, in Field and Stream, volume 101, page 12

I counted five Mississippis between each flash of lightning and the thunder crash that followed.

1997, George Clark, The Small Bees’ Honey: Stories, Buffalo, NY: White Pine Press, page 129

We had lungs like camel bladders by then; we sledged each other mercilessly, each daring the other to break the two-minute limit beneath the diving board. In the summer sea when it was flat-calm and there was nothing else to do but dive down and lie on the clean, ribbed bottom and hold our breaths to count Mississippis we got pretty close to our goal.

2008, Tim Winton, chapter 3, in Breath, Picador UK Paperback 2008 edition, page 30