hush, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

hush n.

a bribe.

1725		Hist. of Jonathan Wild 7: Wild hearing the Robber was possess’d of a round sum of Ready Rhino, gave him to understand he expected a Pair of Gloves, by way of Hush.
1938		R. Chandler ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 51: If it’s a hush, I’d rather buy it direct.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

hush-house (n.) (also hush parlor) [coined by columnist Walter Winchell (1897–1972) but note hush-shop ]

(US) a speakeasy.

1929		W. Winchell On Broadway 16 Sept. [synd. col.] A highly carbonated man, seeking more giggle water, knocked heavily on a hush parlor entrance.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 72: The very sound of speakeasy and its suggestion of intimate knowledge and speaking softly [...] fitted the spirit of the new, clandestine, yet brazenly public, drinking ways. (Whisper-low and hush house were ephemeral synonyms).
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.

hush-man (n.)

hush money (n.)

see separate entry.

hush mouth

see separate entries.

hush-shop (n.) (also hush-crib) [the sales are made ‘on the hush’]

an unlicensed beer or liquor shop; thus hush-man, the owner/keeper of such a place.

1827		Morn. Chron. 11 Aug. 4/4: A circumstance took place at one of the places called ‘hush-shops’ [...] The keeper of the ‘hush-shop’ [...] had been very much annoyed by persons coming in at all hours for drink [...] On Satruday night a man insisted upon being admitted [...] the ‘hush-man’ resisted his attempt to force himself into the house.
1837		Manchester Courier 18 Mar. 3/2: Another man, who keeps a ‘hush shop’ close by [...] brought a jug of beer.
1841		S. Bamford Life of a Radical I 66: He [...] asked if there were any hush-shops in that part of the country?
1850		Blackburn Standard 13 Feb. 3/6: Duckworth was charged [...] with being drunk and creating a disturbance in a ‘hush’ shop.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 159: HUSH-SHOP, or crib, a shop where beer or spirits is sold ‘on the quiet’ — no licence being paid.
1865		B. Brierley Irkdale I 15: The ‘Jolly Jumper’ originally sprang from the kernel of ‘hush shop’.
1868		Liverpool Dly Post 10 Dec. 7/6: A Hush-Shop Keeper heavily Fined [...] charged with selling beer and spirits without having a license.
1872		Grantham Jrnl 11 May 7/3: Mrs Horrobin [...] went to a ‘hush shop’ on Sunday afternoon, she being greatly addicted to drinking.
1895		Burnley Exp. 13 Apr. 3/6: Whist-shop or hush-shop — A place where beer etc. is sold illicitly.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Hush shop, a speakeasy.

hush stuff (n.)

(Aus. und.) money paid as a bribe in return for silence.

1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 37: Hush Stuff, money given to stay evidence or used for bribery.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: [If] he works in company he has an anxious time lest some of the stags or snitchers may chirp or cackle, squeak or whiddle, if hush stuff is not forthcoming or, to put it in plainer English, informers may speak unless they are paid for their silence.

hush-up (n.)

(US) a ‘cover-up’ of crime.

1924

D. Hammett ‘Death on Pine Street’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 212: I won’t stand for a hush-up.

on the hush (adj.)

(US black) hidden, secret.

2005

B. Coleman Rakim Told Me 162: ‘The Biz [ghost-writing] thing was something that we kept on the hush’.