Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To make silent or quiet.
  • intransitive verb To calm; soothe.
  • intransitive verb To keep from public knowledge; suppress mention of. Often used with up.
  • intransitive verb To be or become silent or still.
  • noun A silence or stillness, especially after noise.
  • adjective Silent; quiet.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Forbear; be still; hist; attend.
  • Silent; still; quiet.
  • 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.
  • noun A state of stillness; profound quiet.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To still; to silence; to calm; to make quiet; to repress the noise or clamor of.
  • transitive verb To appease; to allay; to calm; to soothe.
  • transitive verb to procure silence concerning; to suppress; to keep secret.
  • intransitive verb 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.
  • noun rare Stillness; silence; quiet.
  • noun money paid to secure silence, or to prevent the disclosure of facts.
  • adjective Silent; quiet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive to become quiet
  • verb transitive to make quiet
  • noun A silence, especially after some noise
  • noun A mining method using water

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb become quiet or still; fall silent
  • verb run water over the ground to erode (soil), revealing the underlying strata and valuable minerals
  • verb wash by removing particles
  • noun (poetic) tranquil silence
  • verb become quiet or quieter
  • verb cause to be quiet or not talk

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably back-formation from Middle English husht, silent, of imitative origin.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hush.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • '"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

    February 20, 2008

  • It's a mining term.

    October 27, 2011

  • silencio

    September 30, 2013