Hush means to become quiet or to make someone else quiet. When a librarian says “Hush!” she's asking people to stop talking. When a parent hushes a crying baby, they're trying to calm and quiet the child with gentle sounds or rocking.

The word often suggests a soft, gentle kind of quiet rather than harsh silence. A teacher might hush a chattering class by putting a finger to her lips, or an audience might hush when the curtain rises at a play. There's something almost magical about how a room can hush when everyone suddenly becomes quiet at once, like when a principal walks into a noisy cafeteria.

You might also hear someone say “Hush, I'm trying to listen” when they need quiet to concentrate, or “Hush now” as a soothing way to comfort someone who's upset. The word appears in phrases like hush money (money paid to keep someone quiet about a secret) and hush-hush (very secret or confidential). When something is described as hush-hush, people are being careful not to talk about it openly.

A hush can also be the quiet itself: “A hush fell over the crowd” means everyone suddenly became silent, often because something important or surprising was about to happen.