After entertaining the French, not a peep (7)

I believe the answer is:

silence

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'not a peep' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'after entertaining the french' is the wordplay.
'after' becomes 'since' (since can mean after a certain time).
'entertaining' is an insertion indicator (inviting in, as for dinner).
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'since' enclosing 'le' is 'SILENCE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for silence that I've seen before include "Secrecy; stillness" , "Soundlessness" , "Period of peace" , "Quiet" , "Quietude" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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