Hush

//hʌʃ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A silence, especially after some noise countable, uncountable

    "It is the hush of night."

  2. 2
    (poetic) tranquil silence wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To become quiet. intransitive
  2. 2
    run water over the ground to erode (soil), revealing the underlying strata and valuable minerals wordnet
  3. 3
    To make quiet. transitive
  4. 4
    wash by removing particles wordnet
  5. 5
    To appease; to allay; to soothe. transitive

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

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    become quiet or still; fall silent wordnet
  2. 7
    To clear off soil and other materials overlying the bedrock. transitive
  3. 8
    cause to be quiet or not talk wordnet
  4. 9
    become quiet or quieter wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
quietenallayappeaseassibilateassibilationawful silence

Example

More examples

"The victim of blackmail has been paying hush money for years, but now he realizes it is foolish, and has decided not to pay a red cent more."

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.

Related phrases

Bayreuth hushhush clausehush downhush househush kithush moneyhush one's mouthhush puppyhush shophush uphush-hirehush-hush

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.