hush money
現金取引報告違反などの罪で起訴されていたデニス・ハスタート元下院議長が高校教師時代に不正行為の隠ぺいとして、当時の男子生徒に「口止め料」を支払っていたとされる記事からです。
Dennis Hastert has agreed to plead guilty in a case tied to hush money over sexual misconduct claims
J. Dennis Hastert, the small-town wrestling coach who rose to political power as the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House, indicated in Federal District Court on Thursday that he would plead guilty as part of a plea agreement in a case where he is accused of skirting banking laws and lying to the federal investigators.
A federal prosecutor told the court that the government expects a written plea agreement to be given to the judge on Monday and have asked for a hearing on Oct. 28, at which Mr. Hastert is expected to change his plea to guilty from not guilty.
It was unclear what charges that Mr. Hastert would plead guilty to and what the sentence may be.
“hush money”をとりあげます。hush自体は「シッ！」という音からできた擬音語であり、動詞の「〈人を〉黙らせる、静かにさせる」のほかhush upで「〈悪事などを〉秘密にしておく、もみ消す」という表現がありました（『ジーニアス英和辞典第５版』大修館書店）
これをふまえると“hush money”は直訳で「黙らせるお金」となり、冒頭でも記したように「口止め料」と解釈できます。英英では、“money that is paid to someone not to tell other people about something embarrassing”と定義されていました。（Chris）
