whisht

alternative wheesht · alternative weesht · alternative whish · alternative whist

1. IrelandNorthumbriaScotlandUKespeciallyShush, silence, be quiet!

   [O]h! how he did bellow, an' how he did squeal. "Whisht, alanna," sed Judy, "there's no fear o' yer; shure it's only ovir the stone bridge we're goin'."

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 526

   1 more example

   “You must have loved him very much,” she said. “Whisht,” said the old woman, “there’s a word that you must never use until there's marrying between you […]”

   1952, Neville Shute, chapter 9, in The Far Country, London: Heinemann

2. A sound often used to calm livestock, cattle, sheep etc.