HUSHING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hushing mean? 

• HUSHING (noun)
  The noun HUSHING has 1 sense:

1. a fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval)

  Familiarity information: HUSHING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HUSHING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

fizzle; hiss; hissing; hushing; sibilation

Context example:

the performers could not be heard over the hissing of the audience

Hypernyms ("hushing" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

 Context examples 

Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman down from London to inquire more deeply into it.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A pause of some seconds succeeded, filled up by the low, vague hum of numbers; Miss Miller walked from class to class, hushing this indefinite sound.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The poor man was very uncomfortable, for the children had bereft him of his wife, home was merely a nursery and the perpetual 'hushing' made him feel like a brutal intruder whenever he entered the sacred precincts of Babyland.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)