Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web

squash

 - 7 dictionary results

squash

1[skwosh, skwawsh]
–verb (used with object)
1. to press into a flat mass or pulp; crush: She squashed the flower under her heel.
2. to suppress or put down; quash.
3. to silence or disconcert (someone), as with a crushing retort or emotional or psychological pressure.
4. to press forcibly against or cram into a small space; squeeze.
–verb (used without object)
5. to be pressed into a flat mass or pulp.
6. (of a soft, heavy body) to fall heavily.
7. to make a splashing sound; splash.
8. to be capable of being or likely to be squashed: Tomatoes squash easily.
9. to squeeze or crowd; crush.
–noun
10. the act or sound of squashing.
11. the fact of squashing or of being squashed.
12. something squashed or crushed.
13. something soft and easily crushed.
14. Also called squash racquets. a game for two or four persons, similar to racquets but played on a smaller court and with a racket having a round head and a long handle.
15. Also called squash tennis. a game for two persons, resembling squash racquets except that the ball is larger and livelier and the racket is shaped like a tennis racket.
16. British. a beverage made from fruit juice and soda water: lemon squash.

Origin:
1555–65; < MF esquasser < VL *exquassāre. See ex- 1 , quash


squasher, noun


2, 3. quell, crush, repress.

squash

2[skwosh, skwawsh]
–noun, plural squash⋅es, (especially collectively) squash.
1. the fruit of any of various vinelike, tendril-bearing plants belonging to the genus Curcurbita, of the gourd family, as C. moschata or C. pepo, used as a vegetable.
2. any of these plants.

Origin:
1635–45, Americanism; < Narragansett (E sp.) askútasquash (pl.)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To squash
squash 1   (skwŏsh, skwôsh)   
n.  
  1. Any of various tendril-bearing plants of the genus Cucurbita, having fleshy edible fruit with a leathery rind and unisexual flowers.

  2. The fruit of any of these plants, eaten as a vegetable.


[From alteration of Narragansett askútasquash.]
squash 2   (skwŏsh, skwôsh)   
v.   squashed, squash·ing, squash·es

v.   tr.
  1. To beat, squeeze, or press into a pulp or a flattened mass; crush. See Synonyms at crush.

  2. To put down or suppress; quash: squash a revolt.

  3. To silence or fluster, as with crushing words: squash a heckler.

v.   intr.
  1. To become crushed, flattened, or pulpy, as by pressure or impact.

  2. To move with a splashing or sucking sound, as when walking through boggy ground.

n.  
    1. The act or sound of squashing.

    2. The fact or condition of being squashed.

  1. A crushed or crowded mass: a squash of people.

  2. Sports A racket game played in a closed walled court with a rubber ball.

  3. Chiefly British A citrus-based soft drink.

adv.  With a squashing sound.

[Middle English squachen, from Old French esquasser, from Vulgar Latin *exquassāre : Latin ex-, intensive pref.; see ex- + Latin quassāre, to shatter, frequentative of quatere, to shake; see kwēt- in Indo-European roots.]
squash'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

squash  (v.)
"to crush," 1565, from O.Fr. esquasser "to crush," from V.L. *exquassare, from L. ex- "out" + quassare "to shatter" (see quash "to crush"). The name of the racket game is first recorded in 1886, originally as the name of the soft rubber ball used in it.

squash  (n.)
"gourd fruit," 1643, shortened borrowing from Algonquian (Narraganset) askutasquash, lit. "the green things that may be eaten raw," from askut "green, raw" + asquash "eaten," in which the -ash is a plural affix (cf. succotash).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: squash
Pronunciation: 'skwäsh, 'skwosh
Function: noun
: a bit of tissue crushed between slide and cover glass and stained in situ especiallyfor cytological study of chromosomes
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see squash on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: