shush
/ʃʊʃ
/ /ʃʌʃ /exclamation
Be quiet: Shush! Do you want to wake everyone?...
- She glared at the well-built wrestler and decided against hurting him, ‘Oh shush!’
- At one point, Harry giggles behind the camera and Diana says, ‘Harry shush!’
- Rolling her eyes impatiently, ‘Oh, shush, will you!;
noun
1An utterance of ‘shush’: the thumps were followed by shushes from the aunts...
- Ryan yelled, there were various shushes from the others.
- A simple hushed apology of ‘excuse me’ or ‘sorry’ when someone needed to pass by an audience member was met by shushes and evil stares.
- One of the students whispered to his friends, and a burst of laughter from them caused the teachers to glare at them, accompanied by a few shushes.
2A soft swishing or rustling sound: the ‘shush, shush, shush’ of a broom on the tent’s groundsheet...
- There were a few shushes from the people around us and quickly shushed up, diverting out attention back to the movie.
- Yallac followed suit, lying on her back and gazing up at the endless expanse of stars, listening to the shushing of the water on the cliffs.
verb
1 [with object] Tell or signal (someone) to be silent: she shushed him with a wave...
- She shushed him and signalled for him to move back to the other side of the battlements.
- I'm quite bad at regulating my voice, as many people who've publicly shushed me can attest.
- A woman answered giggling and shushing someone to silence before speaking.
1.1 [no object] Become or remain silent: Beth told her to shush...
- My generation didn't have to calm our babies after feeding; we nursed them to sleep, which takes less time than bouncing, wrapping, shushing, and pacifying.
- My inner voice, still remained a loud, enthusiastic, untrained child, frequently shushed and disciplined to sit still.
- The women are whispering and the men shushing and telling everyone to sit down - they've never seen a drama like this before.
2 [no object, usually with adverbial of direction] Move with or make a soft swishing or rustling sound: I stood to watch a big liner shushing slowly past (as noun shushing) she could hear the gentle shushing of the waves...
- The wind in the trees, waves shushing on the shore, birdsong or the rustle of long grass.
- There's a field above my house where the only sounds are eagles above and wind shushing through grass and pine below.
- Dining on the beach, surf shushing over the nearby reef, my biggest dilemma is which of five lobster menu options to select.
Origin
1920s: imitative.