Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a bribe paid to ensure that embarrassing facts are suppressed.

1709		R. Steele Tatler No. 26: I expect Hush-Money to be regularly sent for every Folly or Vice any one commits in this whole Town.
1716		J. Addison Drummer V i: I must stop this old fellow’s mouth, I must not be sparing in hush-money.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: hush-money Money given to hush up, or conceal a Robbery or Theft, or to take off an Evidence from appearing against a Criminal, &c.
1732		Delightful Adventures of Honest John Cole 14: I give Information next Morning to each merry Wanton, and get well paid both for Hush-Money and Conjuration.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1750		An Apology for the Conduct of Mrs T.C. Phillips II 186: To Hush-Money to her Servants, to prevent Letters and Meetings coming to the Knowledge of Mr. B.
1766		Midnight Spy (c.1929) 31: The magistrates [...] squeeze a good livelihood out of them [i.e. criminal public houses] by visiting once a quarter, demanding hush money, and making them promise to behave better.
1771		Foote Maid of Bath Married I iv: Hush, here’s hush money for you, to stop his mouth.
1788		G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist I 232: Spied a couple of Fleet-street walkers dressed clean, like servant-maids, there. Took 1s. 6d. off them for hush-money.
1795		Sporting Mag. Dec. VII 130/1: People of this class are seldom proof against hush-money.
1815		D. Humphreys Yankey in England 47: Nobody but you, who have so much hush money [...] could tell.
1828		‘Jon Bee’ Living Picture of London 159: Another of the same stamp had offered him ‘hush-money,’ on his ‘kicking up a bubbery’ at the public-house, where it happened.
1838		Eve. Star (N.Y.) 11 July 2/2: Hush Money. [headline] [...] the menace of certain pimps and low wretches who extort money [...] by threatening indictments or false accusations.
1838		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 20 Oct. 71/2: Morgan [...] received by way of hush money, — more than sufficient to purchase a coach and a pair of greys.
1840		W.G. Simms Border Beagles (1855) 313: ‘He won’t come back, unless he brings a double chance of picayunes to make up hush-money’ ‘The skunk!’.
1843		N.Y. Sporting Whip 11 Feb. n.p.: We [...] openly avow that we extort hush-money.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 27 Dec. 2/5: Jenkins [had] the temerity to offer Ward 4s, or, in other words, ‘his regulars,’ as ‘hush money’.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 122/2: Hush Money, money given to compound felony.
1853		Dickens Bleak House (1991) 527: To allow Ada to be made a bribe and hush-money of, is not the way to bring it out [F&H]check.
1858		G. Thompson Gay Girls of N.Y. 38: The faithful night guardian repaired to a neighboring ‘all-night house,’ where he invested a portion of the ‘hush-money’ which he had received, in refreshments.
1865		R.S. Surtees Facey Romford’s Hounds 17: Eighteenpence of hush money for a certain horse robbery he had been engaged in.
1868		H.L. Williams Black-Eyed Beauty 40: Then it came to the hush-money question; Nathan only had twenty dollars.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 337: ‘Why, you know that it ain’t exactly regular to take hush-money,’ the sergeant said.
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 118: The little fellow would not take the ‘hush money’ unless Jessell stood a pint of rum into the bargain.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 6 Nov. 5/4: [B]y threatening to expose his brother [he] secured a large amount of hush money.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Sept. 6/1: It is now said that he offered £25,000 to the injured husband as hush-money. Whether this solatium was taken or not is in dispute.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 21 Mar. 2/1: Hush money is what the young husband parts with for soothing syrups, &c.
1894		Mirror of Life 17 Nov. 6/4: [T]he dame made a strong kick in hopes of catching on to some hush-money.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 129: A man who consorts with mouth-pieces is sure to be approached, sooner or later, by thieves with hush-money.
1901		W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 29 Sept. 1/1: It would be interesting to know how much hush money a brothel-owning Asiatic distributes weekly [...] his willingness to loan money to influential officials procures him immunity from prosecution.
1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 10 Aug. 12/4: ‘Your cool proposition of accepting five pounds hush-money would render you a partner in the crime’.
1918		‘Sapper’ Human Touch 84: I felt he regarded me as outside the pale, and the half-crown’s worth of hush money I pressed into his hand failed to remove his displeasure altogether.
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 441: The conclusion to which he came [,...] was that the latter had shadowed him and was following him home with the purpose of extracting hush-money.
1929		S. Ornitz Haunch Paunch and Jowl 77: Well, Mr. Somebody will pay good to stop the noise, and that’s what you call hush gelt (money).
1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 195: You’re always afraid of having to pay hush money!
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 566: There are, indeed, slang terms that have survived for centuries, never dropping quite out of use and yet never attaining to good usage. [...] Among nouns, gas for empty talk has been traced to 1847, [...] hush-money to 1709.
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 185: She knew of a certain widow in a pub on the way to Riverina to whom had gone as hush money large sums gained from other men’s cattle.
1941		J.K. Butler ‘Saint in Silver’ in Goulart (1967) 95: He’s been shelling out hush-money to blackmailers.
1942		W. Winchell On Broadway 2 Apr. [synd. col.] The royalties I got didn’t come near the hush money I passed up!
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 126: hush dough Bribe money given to avoid exposure.
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling.
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 178: Charlie told him he wanted hush money out of him.
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 61: It was still high for hush money.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 248: ‘Why should I pay you people a dime?’ [...] ‘I believe it’s called hush money.’.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] Hush money from embezzlers who didn’t want to be found.
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 161: A little hush money in the right pockets [...] and Boston University is in the Ivy League.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 246: Don’t forget your hush money.
2011		E. Beetner ‘Zed’s Dead, Baby’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] He owed my man a decent chunk of change and [...] even Zed wasn’t so shit-all stupid to use it as hush money.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] Were they paying you hush money?
2017		N. Tabor in Oxford American 2 Mar. 🌐 She later said in court proceedings that the payments were really for ‘protection’ or ‘hush money’.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 436: ‘So who’s making this claim of hush money?’.