释义 |
▪ I. hush-hush Reduplicated form of hush int., used attrib. or as adj. to denote any object of manufacture, process, plan, or policy, the details or existence of which are kept secret; occas. a person engaged in such matters; also, secrecy.
1916H. Yoxall Let. 22 Sept. in Fashion of Life (1966) iv. 32 The hush-hush Tanks were splendid. 1919C. P. Thompson Cocktails 133 The Flying Tank fixed the job without calling on that elaborate organisation for anything more hush-hush than a couple of batteries of heavy Hows. 1920Glasgow Herald 3 May 8 The dramatic arrival at Baku in July, 1918, of General Dunsterville's ‘hush-hush’ force after its splendidly adventurous march through Persia. Ibid. 12 Aug. 4 Minute accounts of the hush-hush birth of this new monster of war. 1922Ibid. 30 Aug. 9 A ‘hush-hush’ Bristol monoplane. 1927A. E. W. Mason No Other Tiger i. 11 He had never been able to take the hush-hush men seriously. 1927Lloyd George Slings & Arrows (1929) 184 That ‘hush, hush’ policy which prevailed before the war. 1931Morning Post 5 June 12/4 Italian ‘hush hush’ car in Irish race. 1937A. Christie Murder in Mews vi. 127 ‘A burglary? What was taken?’ ‘Oh, I don't know. It's all very hush-hush.’ 1942[see cake n. 7 c]. 1955[see closed door]. 1955Times 26 May 4/3 In each party the idea of a broadsheet was the secret of a few. It was intended to be the ‘hush-hush’ weapon. 1970Private Eye May 20 A hush hush top-level inquiry. 1973A. Christie Postern of Fate iii. xvii. 249 The present trend of political thinking is that hush-hush, necessary as it is at certain times, should not be preserved indefinitely. ▪ II. hush-hush, v. [Reduplicated form of hush v.1] trans. To say ‘hush, hush’ to; to quiet, silence.
1861New Monthly Mag. Feb. 151, I don't feel the zest now that I used to feel cutting through the water with..that merry, wicked little dog, Phil Hervey, for coxswain; he's a bishop now, and hush-hushes you. 1883G. Meredith Poems & Lyrics 49 Not the pines with the faint airs afloat, Hush-hushing the nested dove. 1928Daily Express 12 June 10/4 She might have done it long ago if she had not been firmly hush-hushed by men. |