hush

[ huhsh ]

interjection

1. (used as a command to be silent or quiet.)

verb (used without object)

1. to become or be silent or quiet:

   They hushed as the judge walked in.

verb (used with object)

1. to make silent; silence.
2. to suppress mention of; keep concealed (often followed by up ):

   They hushed up the scandal.

3. to calm, quiet, or allay:

   to hush someone's fears.

noun

1. silence or quiet, especially after noise.

   Synonyms: tranquility, stillness, peace

2. Phonetics. either of the sibilant sounds (sh) and (zh).

adjective

1. Archaic. silent; quiet.

hush

¹

/ hʌʃ /

verb

1. to make or become silent; quieten
2. to soothe or be soothed

noun

1. stillness; silence
2. an act of hushing

interjection

1. a plea or demand for silence

hush

²

/ hʌʃ /

verb

1. to run water over the ground to erode (surface soil), revealing the underlying strata and any valuable minerals present
2. to wash (an ore) by removing particles of earth with rushing water

noun

1. a gush of water, esp when artificially produced

Derived Forms

• hushed, adjective

Other Words From

• hush·ed·ly [huhsh, -id-lee, huhsht, -lee], adverb
• hushful adjective
• hushful·ly adverb
• un·hushing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hush¹

1350–1400; apparently back formation from husht whist ² ( Middle English huissht ), the -t being taken for past participle suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of hush¹

C16: probably from earlier husht quiet!, the -t being thought to indicate a past participle

Origin of hush²

C18: of imitative origin

Synonym Study

See still ¹.

Example Sentences

Keeping everything “hush-hush” for years was exhausting, and it was demoralizing to never open up about her personal life — particularly as an “open book” singer-songwriter who poured her real experiences into lyrics.

From Washington Post

Switch to “Whisper” mode, and the Mach-E hushes its Hollywood effects.

From Popular-Science

Hawke is a genius at conjuring the hush of the auditorium, the thrill of live actors, the magical sense of a performance moving through time.

From Washington Post

The hush-money-is-no-crime defenseTrump insisted it wasn’t a crime when his fixer arranged hush-money payments for two women during the 2016 presidential campaign.

From Washington Post

Illegitimate concerns would include a company wanting to preempt negative PR or silence victims of discrimination and harassment with hush money.

From Fortune

The Church would “deal with the families in as limited way as possible, and pay them hush money.”

From The Daily Beast

And they must just accept that after 20 years of trying to hush us and badmouth us.

From The Daily Beast

Escorting is big business on the straight side too, only more of a hush-hush operation.

From The Daily Beast

She hesitated to explain any further because, she said, “TLC has kind of told us to hush-hush.”

From The Daily Beast

My mother took me to a live radio show in downtown Houston, and we had to be all hush as the skits were conducted.

From The Daily Beast

Here there was a scuffling sound in the basket, and the Roc rapped on the cover with her hard beak, and cried, "Hush!"

From Project Gutenberg

How still and calm the night was, the very stars were painted on the sky, the lights were low, there lay a hush upon the audience.

From Project Gutenberg

He caught his breath, he paused, then stepped within on tiptoe, and the hush of four thousand years closed after him.

From Project Gutenberg

He was taken up for dead; and Richelieu and the Cardinal conjured me to hush the affair.

From Project Gutenberg

Amid the hush that followed, the stranger picked himself slowly up, and sought to wipe the filth from his face and garments.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• stillness