Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make silent or quiet.
- v. To calm; soothe.
- v. To keep from public knowledge; suppress mention of. Often used with up: tried to hush up the damaging details.
- v. To be or become silent or still.
- n. A silence or stillness, especially after noise.
- adj. Archaic Silent; quiet.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To reduce to silence; make still or quiet; check or suppress the sound of.
- To appease; allay; calm, as commotion or agitation.
- In mining, to clear off (the soil and surface dirt), in order to expose the bed-rock, so that it can be ascertained whether there are indications of a vein or metalliferous deposit.
- To be still; be silent or quiet; make no noise.
- Forbear; be still; hist; attend.
- n. A state of stillness; profound quiet.
- Silent; still; quiet.
Wiktionary
- v. to become quiet
- v. to make quiet
- n. A silence, especially after some noise
- n. A mining method using water
- which
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To still; to silence; to calm; to make quiet; to repress the noise or clamor of.
- v. To appease; to allay; to calm; to soothe.
- v. To become or to keep still or quiet; to become silent; -- esp. used in the imperative, as an exclamation; be still; be silent or quiet; make no noise.
- n. Stillness; silence; quiet.
- adj. Silent; quiet.
WordNet 3.0
- v. become quiet or still; fall silent
- v. run water over the ground to erode (soil), revealing the underlying strata and valuable minerals
- v. wash by removing particles
- n. (poetic) tranquil silence
- v. become quiet or quieter
- v. cause to be quiet or not talk
Etymologies
- Probably back-formation from Middle English husht, silent, of imitative origin.
Examples
“If we get a really good title out, then expect me to reward the contributor (s) with a very special gift. * hush hush*”
“Plus shocking allegations from Nicole Brown ` s sister that the families were offered what she called hush money.”
“O.J. outrage, tonight an unbelievable new twist, shocking allegations from Nicole Brown ` s sister that the families were offered what she calls hush money from the people who put together Simpson ` s offensive confession TV special and book.”
“And it still -- what really bothers me is the harsh reality that over the past 20 years, the church is paid over $1 billion in what I call hush money to victims, to be quiet.”
“Any organization that can pass out hundreds of millions in hush-money can damn-well afford to pay taxes.”
“And when Ensign had his parents pay $96k in hush money.”
“They are all on facebook, myspace, etc … would be bound to run into too many people they know on POF so may prefer to use a pay site where it can all remain hush, hush.”
“After all, why wouldn't we wonder if the man behind wise crackin ', hush-yo-mouth Medea of many films and TV sitcom House of Payne can take on such fare as this?”
The Huffington Post: Wyatt Closs: For Colored Girls, And For Multiple Stakes
“If you are a republican and cry over money you are not a good republican or you have to pay a lot in hush money to cover your bad habits.”
“The 25k he ended up doling out, in hush money, if way too much low-balling it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hush’.
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Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 241 more...
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sound (quiet)
words for quiet sounds
( randomness, descriptive )sigh, murmur, whisper, whir, rustle, patter, hum, snap, hiss(sss), crackle, bleat, peep and 185 more...
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•Open List: Be Vewwy, Vewwy Quiet....
Imperatives only, please. :-)
button up, hush, clam up, close up, don't say boo, shut it, pipe down, keep mum, dummy up, shut up, belt up, hush up and 85 more...
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The Gentle Life
Words relating to quiet, inactivity, peace.
desuetude, languor, halcyon, placidness, quiescent, elysian, relaxation, meditation, lassitude, hiatus, respite, pacific and 16 more...

hernesheir It's a mining term. Oct 27, 2011
anydelirium '"Hush- hush!" implored Cousin Stickles.
'"I don't mean to hush," said Valancy, perversely. "I've hush-hushed all my life. I'll scream if I want to. Don't make me want to."' -The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery Feb 20, 2008