Phrasal verb: hush up

1. To hush up something (or hush something up) is to try to prevent information or facts from being revealed to other people.

 

If someone (usually someone in authority) hushes up something, they try to prevent other people knowing about it.

 

Examples of use:

a) The government tried to hush up the mistake.

b) He hushed up the company's illegal dumping of toxic waste.

c) They tried to hush up the phone hacking story.

d) News headline: Illegal kidney transplant hushed up.

e) His assassination was hushed up.

 

cover up has very similar meaning to hush up

 

hush money (noun) is money paid secretly to stop damaging information becoming public knowledge.

 

2. Hush up also means be quiet.

Examples of use:

a) Hush up! I'm trying to think.

b) I wish you would hush up and let me finish my homework.

 

infinitive	hush up
present simple	hush up and hushes up
-ing form	hushing up
past simple	hushed up
past participle	hushed up

 

Can you use hush up in a sentence?

Can you think of something that has been hushed up?

 

Image © Shawn Rossi