hush puppy
4
5.3
- noun
- /ˈhʌʃ ˈpʌpi/
- US
:
hush puppy
- I had decided to make homemade hush puppies and when I dropped the hush puppy, the grease flew up and burnt all three fingers.
- fried hush puppies
- hush puppies and slaw
- hush puppies and coleslaw
Examples
-
The house specialty was fried catfish and hush puppies made with beer.
Fiction book (1993) -
I was eager for the appetizers to arrive; the jalapeno hush puppies seemed very promising.
Blog text (11) -
Finish your hush puppies, baby.
-
He's got this great hush puppy recipe.
-
The hush puppies themselves were phenomenal.
Blog text (11) -
There must be hush puppies on the plate, yielding a crispy, corny, buttermilk taste.
Blog text (20) -
I went with an appetizer of jalapeño hush puppies and the cheeseburger for my entrée.
Blog text (11) -
Vaughn Rhomer had planned a long, leisurely dining experience, but he had eaten as rapidly as he could and did not enjoy his food, particularly the overcooked green beans and soggy hush puppies.
Fiction book (1993) -
For dinner, I ordered fried shrimp and a side of hush puppies.
-
The restaurant is famous for its delicious hush puppies served alongside the fried fish.
Synonyms
1
8.4
A small fried ball made from cornmeal batter, often served as a side with fish
Surface Forms
Morphology
hush + puppy
The meaning 'a small deep-fried cornmeal ball' cannot be derived from the literal constituents 'hush' (be quiet) and 'puppy' (young dog); there is no compositional logic that links those words to a food item. This is a culture-specific culinary term with a lexicalized name, so an average B1 learner who knows the parts but hasn't seen the phrase would not predict its meaning.
Etymology
Hush puppy may come from cooks who threw small fried balls of cornmeal to stray dogs to make them hush, meaning 'quiet'. Because the little pieces went to the puppies, the name stuck, so today hush puppy means a small deep-fried cornmeal ball served as a side dish.