shhes

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of shh.

   The teacher shhes the class before reading the story aloud.

   Every time the dog barks at night, she gently shhes it back to sleep.

   Note

   Only he, she, it or a singular noun takes this form. With I, you, we and they the verb stays as plain shh. It works with or without an object: she shhes the children, or he simply shhes from the back row. Like the interjection behind it, the verb can demand quiet or soothe someone who is crying.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of shh.

   Several urgent shhes rippled through the theater as the lights dimmed.

   Her repeated shhes did nothing to quiet the excited crowd.

   Note

   A plural formed the way English treats words ending in a hissing sound, with -es, as in hushes and wishes. It counts spoken calls for quiet. The gene and protein abbreviation SHH (sonic hedgehog) is uncountable and takes no plural. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, so the ushers' shhes is a noun and she shhes us is a verb.

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