I. hush 1 /hʌʃ/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: husht 'silent, hushed' (15-19 centuries) , from husht a word used to tell people to keep quiet ]
1 . hush spoken used to tell people to be quiet, or to comfort a child who is crying or upset:
Hush, now. Try to get to sleep.
2 . [transitive] written to make someone stop shouting, talking, crying etc:
Ella asked them to hush their voices.
3 . [intransitive] written to stop shouting, talking etc:
The audience hushed as he stepped onto the stage.
hush something ↔ up phrasal verb
to prevent people from knowing about something dishonest or immoral SYN cover up :
The whole affair was hushed up by the government.
II. hush 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . [singular] a period of silence, especially when people are expecting something to happen:
A sudden hush fell over the crowd.
2 . a bit of hush British English spoken used to ask people, especially noisy children, to be quiet:
Let’s have a bit of hush, please, gentlemen.