hush up
B2 informal separable both
In simple words
To stop people from talking about something, or to tell someone to be quiet.
Meanings
1 B2
idiomatic
informal
To prevent a scandal, crime, or embarrassing fact from becoming public knowledge.
"The company tried to hush up the data breach before regulators found out."
"The whole affair had been hushed up."
— George Orwell, 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949)
Grammar: separable
2 B1 informal
To tell someone to stop talking or making noise.
"She hushed up her little brother so their parents wouldn't wake up."
Grammar: separable
Usage notes
The 'suppress a scandal' sense is very common in journalism and informal speech. The 'be quiet' sense is slightly old-fashioned in some dialects. Used across British and American English.
Commonly used with
scandal affair story incident rumor news
Forms
Base
hush up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
hushes up
he/she/it
Past simple
hushed up
yesterday
Past participle
hushed up
have + pp
-ing form
hushing up
continuous
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