hush
Americaninterjection
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
-
to make silent; silence.
-
to suppress mention of; keep concealed (often followed byup ).
They hushed up the scandal.
-
to calm, quiet, or allay.
to hush someone's fears.
noun
-
silence or quiet, especially after noise.
- Synonyms:
- tranquility, stillness, peace
-
Phonetics. either of the sibilant sounds (sh) and (zh).
adjective
verb
-
to make or become silent; quieten
-
to soothe or be soothed
noun
-
stillness; silence
-
an act of hushing
interjection
verb
-
to run water over the ground to erode (surface soil), revealing the underlying strata and any valuable minerals present
-
to wash (an ore) by removing particles of earth with rushing water
noun
Related Words
See still 1.
Other Word Forms
- hushed adjective
- hushedly adverb
- hushful adjective
- hushfully adverb
- unhushing adjective
Etymology
Origin of hush
1350–1400; apparently back formation from husht whist 2 ( Middle English huissht ), the -t being taken for past participle suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But nothing was done in a "don't ask, don't tell" culture, with it being felt it was "safe to hush it up", the review led by barrister Gabrielle Higgins found.
From BBC
Everyone hushed as the soldiers parted and the king came forward.
From Literature
To the uninitiated, cross-country skiing looks like a graceful, rhythmic activity set against a hushed winter landscape.
All that crackling pressure on one athlete, the hushed ooooooohhs from the rafters, all of it.
I start bouncing in the booth and squealing until Emma hushes me so she can hear.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
