hushaby

alternative hush-a-bye

1. archaichush and be still; a lull to sleep

   The night is fair, and the waves are still, And the wind is singing to you and to me In this lowly home beside the sea — Hushaby, sweet my own!

   1892. Eugene Field. Hushaby Sweet my Own. In With Trumpet and Drum. page 106 http://books.google.com/books?id=FNQMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA106&dq=hushaby&ei=W3AuR-2nAoKotgPstI28CQ

   1 more example

   Hush-a-by, baby, upon the tree-top; / When the wind blows the cradle will rock; / When the bough breaks the cradle will fall; / Down will come cradle and baby and all.

   1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 5

plural hushabies · alternative hush-a-bye

1. A lullaby used to soothe babies to sleep.

   The moaning of their voices seemed to me to be like what is understood in Scotland by a "sugh," and might very well have passed for a hushaby, when the nurse had nearly succeeded in murmuring herself to sleep, as well as her infant.

   1832, Thomas Skinner, Excursions in India

present singular third person hushabies · participle present hushabying · participle past hushabied · past hushabied · alternative hush-a-bye

1. archaictransitiveTo lull to sleep by saying "hushaby".