hush
part of speech
verb (hush, hushes, hushed, hushing); noun (a hush); interjection (hush!)
meaning for a pupil
1) To hush someone is to make them be quiet or calm. tree →
2) As a command, «Hush!» means «Be quiet!». tree →
3) A hush is a sudden quiet, when everyone stops talking. tree →
4) To hush something up is to keep it secret so people do not find out, often something bad. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories a hush often comes just before something important happens: «A hush fell over the room». Parents hush babies with lullabies («Hush, little baby»). In news and history «hush it up» means hiding a scandal. Phrases: «a hush fell», «hush up», «hush-hush» (informal, secret), «hush money».
examples
- «Hush now, the baby's asleep,» whispered Dad. tree →
- A hush fell over the hall when the head teacher walked in. tree →
- Mum hushed us when the phone rang. tree →
- The company tried to hush up the accident. tree →
- «Hush, little baby, don't say a word» is an old lullaby. tree →
- The plan is all very hush-hush, so don't tell anyone. tree →
- In the hush of the forest we heard a woodpecker. tree →
- "Hush," said John, and he told her some more. tree →
note
Past form «hushed». «A hushed voice» means a very quiet voice. «Hush-hush» is informal for «secret». «Hush money» is money paid to keep someone from telling a secret, which is often wrong or illegal. Countable as a noun only in «a hush».
In the corpora
- Now hush» («my lover» is just a friendly West Country «dear»).
- The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «hush» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.