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tush

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An exclamation of impatience, contempt, or dismissal—used for dramatic emphasis or period authenticity in dialogue.

Detailed Definition
“Tush” functions as dismissive interjection—“tush, nonsense!” In dramatic poetry, it punctuates rebuttal. The term’s brevity suits comic or ironic tone. Poets use it to signal rhetorical dismissal, where “tush” undercuts pretension, reinforcing themes of skepticism, wit, and the limits of argument in satirical and dialogic contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Tush! That’s folly,” cries the wise elder; In Shakespeare’s Much Ado: “Tush! I will not fear”; “Tush, child, the storm will pass”; “Tush! Your boasts are empty”; “She said ‘Tush!’ and turned away”; Tush! The night is young yet.
Additional Notes
“Tush” dismisses with impatient contempt (“Tush! Fie!”); in dramatic dialogue, it punctuates folly or irrelevance, functioning as a rhetorical brush-off that reveals speaker superiority or exasperation.
Also Known As
nonsense poppycock fiddlesticks
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