hushaby

English

Alternative forms
  • hush-a-bye

Etymology

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

Interjection

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 :
      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

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

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
  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.
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