Meanings
shushy1
- childishcolloquialAn instruction to be quiet; hush.
“Shushy, little baby,” Kim tried to soothe.
2018, Karin Tabke, Naughty List3 more examples
The Ghost feigned concern and put his hand over his mouth, “Oooh, shushy shushy, no word from me."
2006, C. Owens, The Hacksaw, the Rose & the Parthenon Parrot, page 124Oh baby shushy shushy it's coldy and my legs are hurty and I need a ciggy and I ain't got one in my / bag
2014, David Watson, Flight Path & Undercarriage'Shushy shushy,' pleads Catherine. 'Shushy shushy for Mummy and Auntie Jessie.
2020, Stevie Davies, The Web of Belonging
shushy2
comparative shushier · superlative shushiest
- Attempting to quieten or soothe.
The first three times I drew stern, shushy looks.
2015, Herb Payson, Blown Away, page 1604 more examples
My little sister went to the library with us once, but she said she wouldn't come any more because she didn't like the shushy lady and the glasses man.
1980, Dorothy Edwards, My Naughty Little Sister and Bad Harry, page 27The girl with lighter-colored hair than normal down here said in a shushy voice: “Yes. Come with me. We'll take him home.”
2008, Alan Burt Akers, Scorpio Assassin: Dray Prescot 39I made shushy flapping movements with my hands, which only made him screech louder.
2012, Caroline Green, Dark RideIt sounds like a lullaby, all shushy and soothing.
2017, Juliet Butler ·, The Less You Know The Sounder You Sleep - Quiet or secretive.
This is a shushy time...
2006, Vikki L. Jeanne Cleveland, The Wading Place, page 2544 more examples
Then the audience and the actor would listen desperately for the frantic, shushy promptings of the nun in the wings.
1947, Joseph Dever, No Lasting Home, page 34You’d better wear the shoes you have on. They’re the shushiest ones you have.
1956, Daphne Athas, chapter XV, in The Fourth World: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 158The adults were still being all shushy and secretive, so José read his books, Anna scribbled in her notebook, and Henry started a new game.
2014, Kate Messner, Manhunt“Do you notice how shushy it is around here?”
2017, Barry Lancet, The Spy Across the Table - Making a sibilant, whooshing sound, like the sound of the letters 'sh'.
I have a hat on too and the heater is blowing on me with a shushy noise .
2002, S. Kennedy Tosten, M for Mall, page 1102 more examples
I decide to leave the window open and climb back into bed, hoping the shushy waves of traffic will lull me to sleep.
2008, Jennifer Ziegler, How Not to Be Popular, page 160Remember, wear cotton clothing, not nylon or plastic, as synthetic fibers make “shushy” noises when you move, obviously spoiling your recording.
2012, David Lewis Yewdall, The Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound
Origin
shushy · interjection
From shush + -y (suffix forming colloquialisms).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
shushy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shushy
“shushy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shushy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shushy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shushy.
Source: shushy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.