Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to zhoosh
Participle: zhooshed
Gerund: zhooshing
Cognates
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Indicative
Present
| I | zhoosh |
| you | zhoosh |
| he;she;it | zhooshes |
| we | zhoosh |
| you | zhoosh |
| they | zhoosh |
Perfect
| I | have zhooshed |
| you | have zhooshed |
| he;she;it | has zhooshed |
| we | have zhooshed |
| you | have zhooshed |
| they | have zhooshed |
Past
| I | zhooshed |
| you | zhooshed |
| he;she;it | zhooshed |
| we | zhooshed |
| you | zhooshed |
| they | zhooshed |
Pluperfect
| I | had zhooshed |
| you | had zhooshed |
| he;she;it | had zhooshed |
| we | had zhooshed |
| you | had zhooshed |
| they | had zhooshed |
Future
| I | will zhoosh |
| you | will zhoosh |
| he;she;it | will zhoosh |
| we | will zhoosh |
| you | will zhoosh |
| they | will zhoosh |
Future Perfect
| I | will have zhooshed |
| you | will have zhooshed |
| he;she;it | will have zhooshed |
| we | will have zhooshed |
| you | will have zhooshed |
| they | will have zhooshed |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | zhoosh |
| you | zhoosh |
| he;she;it | zhoosh |
| we | zhoosh |
| you | zhoosh |
| they | zhoosh |
Perfect
| I | have zhooshed |
| you | have zhooshed |
| he;she;it | have zhooshed |
| we | have zhooshed |
| you | have zhooshed |
| they | have zhooshed |
Imperfect
| I | zhooshed |
| you | zhooshed |
| he;she;it | zhooshed |
| we | zhooshed |
| you | zhooshed |
| they | zhooshed |
Pluperfect
| I | had zhooshed |
| you | had zhooshed |
| he;she;it | had zhooshed |
| we | had zhooshed |
| you | had zhooshed |
| they | had zhooshed |
Conditional
Present
| I | would zhoosh |
| you | would zhoosh |
| he;she;it | would zhoosh |
| we | would zhoosh |
| you | would zhoosh |
| they | would zhoosh |
Perfect
| I | would have zhooshed |
| you | would have zhooshed |
| he;she;it | would have zhooshed |
| we | would have zhooshed |
| you | would have zhooshed |
| they | would have zhooshed |
Imperative
| you | zhoosh |
| we | Let's zhoosh |
| you | zhoosh |
Verbs conjugated like 'zhoosh'
abash,
abolish,
abroach,
accomplish,
accroach,
address,
admix,
admonish,
ado,
adpress,
affamish,
affix,
alloo,
amass,
ambush,
anguish,
annex,
appeach,
appears,
approach, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'zhoosh'
shoosh,
whoosh,
choose,
goosh,
moosh,
skoosh,
sloosh,
smoosh,
swoosh,
whoost,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
UK 1960s. Unclear origin; one explanation is that it was borrowed from Angloromani yuser (“clean”, verb) and yusher (“clear”, verb), from Angloromani yus-, yuz-, yuzh- (“clean”) and yush- (“clear”), from Romani žuž-, už- (“clean”, adjective) (also compare Hindi उज्ज्वल (ujjval, “bright”)), but this has been seen as problematic. Another theory is that the term is instead an "expressive formation" similar to whoosh and swish. The South African sense reportedly comes from a regional pronunciation of "Jewish", alluding to the high reputation of Jewish tailors at the time, but this has also been considered unlikely. All senses originated around the same time, with the first attributed use of the noun in 1968 and the verb in 1970.
Sample Sentences
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Mostly the words are dusted off and brought out when we wish to zhoosh up the conversation, to announce a particular delight in our queenly style. [1988, Neil Bartlett, Who Was That Man?, →ISBN, page 82:]
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Mr. Warburton, a volunteer, swept into the group’s headquarters in the Hotel Pennsylvania, a team of hair stylists in tow, his objective to “zhoosh up” the women’s looks, he said. [2009 May 27, Ruth La Ferla, “To Dress for Success, You Must Trust His Eye”, in The New York Times:]
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Christmas dinner is stressful enough without busting out recipes you’ve never made before. That said, if Sue is after a little zhoosh, she might want to consider how she dresses her veg. [2021 December 21, Anna Berrill, “Final magic touches to zhoosh your Christmas lunch”, in The Guardian:]