hushaby

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Blend of hush +‎ lullaby[1][2] or hush +‎ -a- (connective interfix) +‎ by (goodbye, as in bye-bye).[1][3]

Interjection

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hushaby

  1. (archaic) hush and be still; a lull to sleep
    • 1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 5:
      Hush-a-by, baby, upon the tree-top; / When the wind blows the cradle will rock; / When the bough breaks the cradle will fall; / Down will come cradle and baby and all.
    • 1892. Eugene Field. Hushaby Sweet my Own. In With Trumpet and Drum. page 106 [1]:
      The night is fair, and the waves are still,
      And the wind is singing to you and to me
      In this lowly home beside the sea —
      Hushaby, sweet my own!

Noun

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hushaby (plural hushabies)

  1. A lullaby used to soothe babies to sleep.
    • 1832, Thomas Skinner, Excursions in India:
      The moaning of their voices seemed to me to be like what is understood in Scotland by a "sugh," and might very well have passed for a hushaby, when the nurse had nearly succeeded in murmuring herself to sleep, as well as her infant.

Verb

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hushaby (third-person singular simple present hushabies, present participle hushabying, simple past and past participle hushabied)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To lull to sleep by saying "hushaby".

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 hushaby”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  2. ^ hushaby”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ^ hushaby”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.