[dash] 
| 1. | to strike or smash violently, esp. so as to break to pieces: He dashed the plate into smithereens against the wall. |
| 2. | to throw or thrust violently or suddenly: to dash one stone against another. |
| 3. | to splash, often violently; bespatter (with water, mud, etc.): He recovered consciousness when they dashed water in his face. |
| 4. | to apply roughly, as by splashing: to dash paint here and there on the wall. |
| 5. | to mix or adulterate by adding another substance: to dash wine with water. |
| 6. | to ruin or frustrate (hopes, plans, etc.): The rain dashed our hopes for a picnic. |
| 7. | to depress; dispirit: The failure dashed his spirits. |
| 8. | to confound or abash: His rejection dashed and humiliated him. |
| 9. | to strike with violence: The waves dashed against the cliff. |
| 10. | to move with violence; rush: The horses dashed out of the burning stable. |
| 11. | a small quantity of anything thrown into or mixed with something else: a dash of salt. |
| 12. | a hasty or sudden movement; a rush or sudden onset: They all made a dash for the door. |
| 13. | the mark or sign (—) used to note an abrupt break or pause in a sentence or hesitation in an utterance, to begin and end a parenthetic word, phrase, or clause, to indicate the omission of letters or words, to divide a line, to substitute for certain uses of the colon, and to separate any of various elements of a sentence or series of sentences, as a question from its answer. |
| 14. | the throwing or splashing of liquid against something: the dash of the waves against the dock. |
| 15. | the sound of such splashing: The dash of the waves on the beach could be heard from afar. |
| 16. | spirited action; élan; vigor in action or style: The dancer performed with spirit and dash. |
| 17. | Track. a short race: a 100-yard dash. |
| 18. | dashboard (def. 1). |
| 19. | Telegraphy. a signal of longer duration than a dot, used in groups of dots, dashes, and spaces to represent letters, as in Morse code. |
| 20. | a hasty stroke, esp. of a pen. |
| 21. | Archaic. a violent and rapid blow or stroke. |
| 22. | dash off,
|
| 23. | cut a dash, to make a striking impression; be ostentatious or showy. |
A punctuation mark (—) used to indicate a sudden break in thought, to set off parenthetical material, or to take the place of such expressions as that is and namely: “He's running for reelection — if he lives until then”; “Very few people in this class — three, to be exact — have completed their projects”; “She joined the chorus for only one reason — she loves to sing.” In the last example, where the parenthetical material comes at the end of the sentence rather than in the middle, a colon could be used instead of the dash.