hush (redirected from hushes)

a hush fell over someone or something

Fig. a sudden silence enveloped something or a group. As the conductor raised his arms, a hush fell over the audience. The coach shouted and a hush fell over the locker room.

See also: fell

hush someone up 

1. to make someone quiet. Please hush the children up. I have a telephone call. Hush up those kids!

2. Sl. to kill someone. The gang was afraid the witness would testify and wanted to hush him up. Mr. Big told Sam to hush up Richard.

See also: up

hush something up

Fig. to keep something a secret; to try to stop a rumor from spreading. We just couldn't hush it up. We wanted to hush up the story, but there was no way to do it.

See also: up

hush money

Fig. money paid as a bribe to persuade someone to remain silent and not reveal certain information. Bob gave his younger sister hush money so that she wouldn't tell Jane that he had gone to the movies with Sue. The crooks paid Fred hush money to keep their whereabouts secret.

See also: money

hush up

to be quiet; to get quiet; to stop talking. You talk too much. Hush up! I want you to hush up and sit down!

See also: up

Hush your mouth!

Inf Please be quiet. (Not very polite.) I've heard enough of that talk. Hush your mouth! Now, hush your mouth! You shouldn't talk like that!

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hush money

money that you pay someone to stop them telling anyone else about something that you want to keep secret His assistant had been paid hush money to stop him from speaking to the press.

See also: money

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hush somebody up also hush up somebody

to not let someone talk about something She knew about the defects, and company officials tried to hush her up.

See also: up

hush something up also hush up something

to not let something become known She could have died ten years ago, and the news was hushed up. They made a great effort to hush things up and maintain order.

See also: up