hush

English

Etymology

From Middle English huschen (“to hush”) (as past participle husht (“silent; hushed”) and interjection husht (“quiet!”)). Cognate with Low German huschen, hüssen (“to hush; lull”), German huschen (“to shoo; scurry”), Danish hysse (“to hush”), and maybe Albanian hesht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʌʃ/, /hʊʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

Verb

hush (third-person singular simple present hushes, present participle hushing, simple past and past participle hushed)

1. (intransitive) To become quiet.
2. (transitive) To make quiet.
3. (transitive) To appease; to allay; to soothe.
   • 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. , London: Jos Hindmarsh , →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 11:

     VVilt thou then / Huſh my Cares thus, and ſhelter me vvith Love?

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XIX, page 32:

     And hush’d my deepest grief of all.

4. (transitive) To clear off soil and other materials overlying the bedrock.

Derived terms

• hush down
• hush one's mouth
• hush-up

Translations

Noun

hush (uncountable)

1. A silence, especially after some noise
   • 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, , →OCLC, stanza LXXXVI:

     It is the hush of night.

   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: Elkin Mathews, , →OCLC:

     And there fell a hush upon the gods when they saw that Māna rested, and there was silence on Pegāna save for the drumming of Skarl.

2. A mining method using water

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Huhs

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

From English hush.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʌʃ/
• Hyphenation: hush

Interjection

hush

1. there, there (calm somebody)

   Georgie, mi sorry fi 'ear seh yuh mooma dead. Hush. Doan cry.

   George, I'm sorry your mom died. There, there. Don't cry.

   • 2017, Kelly Daviot, “Hush yah, Shaneke, such is life”, in The Jamaica Gleaner‎ (in English):

     “Hush yah, Shaneke, such is life. […] ”

     There, there, Shaneke. Such is life.

Verb

hush

1. be quiet

   Chile, hush yu mouth!

   Child, be quiet!