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squash1

[skwosh, skwawsh]
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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.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to be pressed into a flat mass or pulp.
  2. (of a soft, heavy body) to fall heavily.
  3. to make a splashing sound; splash.
  4. to be capable of being or likely to be squashed: Tomatoes squash easily.
  5. to squeeze or crowd; crush.
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noun
  1. the act or sound of squashing.
  2. the fact of squashing or of being squashed.
  3. something squashed or crushed.
  4. something soft and easily crushed.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. British. a beverage made from fruit juice and soda water: lemon squash.
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Origin of squash1

1555–65; < Middle French esquasser < Vulgar Latin *exquassāre. See ex-1, quash
Related formssquash·er, nounun·squashed, adjective

Synonyms

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2, 3. quell, crush, repress.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

squishsuppresstramplecrushquellquashflattenextinguishsmashpoundannihilatecrowdbruisebearmashpushjamkilldistortpress

Examples from the Web for squashing

Historical Examples

  • I was not,” shouted Stephen; “he was squashing me with his foot, and I moved it away.

    The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • I was only squashing in the brim and trying to make the hat smaller.

    The Limit

    Ada Leverson

  • Your Ma, she say: 'What you doin' you bad boy,' and you answer 'Squashing the angel!'

    Bolax

    Josephine Culpeper

  • Squashing the verdict is likely to become a popular feature of the Welsh Assizes.

  • The villages went off one after another with a soft, squashing noise.

British Dictionary definitions for squashing

squash1

verb
  1. to press or squeeze or be pressed or squeezed in or down so as to crush, distort, or pulp
  2. (tr) to suppress or overcome
  3. (tr) to humiliate or crush (a person), esp with a disconcerting retort
  4. (intr) to make a sucking, splashing, or squelching sound
  5. (often foll by in or into) to enter or insert in a confined space
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noun
  1. British a still drink made from fruit juice or fruit syrup diluted with water
  2. a crush, esp of people in a confined space
  3. something that is squashed
  4. the act or sound of squashing or the state of being squashed
  5. Also called: squash rackets, squash racquets a game for two or four players played in an enclosed court with a small rubber ball and light long-handled rackets. The ball may be hit against any of the walls but must hit the facing wall at a point above a horizontal lineSee also rackets
  6. Also called: squash tennis a similar game played with larger rackets and a larger pneumatic ball
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Derived Formssquasher, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Old French esquasser, from Vulgar Latin exquassāre (unattested), from Latin ex- 1 + quassāre to shatter

squash2

noun plural squashes or squash US and Canadian
  1. any of various marrow-like cucurbitaceous plants of the genus Cucurbita, esp C. pepo and C. moschata, the fruits of which have a hard rind surrounding edible flesh
  2. the fruit of any of these plants, eaten as a vegetable
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Word Origin

C17: from Narraganset askutasquash, literally: green vegetable eaten green
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for squashing

squash

v.

"to crush," 1560s, from Old French esquasser "to crush," from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex- "out" (see ex-) + quassare "to shatter" (see quash "to crush"). Related: Squashed; squashing. The racket game is first recorded by that name in 1886, originally it was the name of the soft rubber ball used in it.

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squash

n.

"gourd fruit," 1640s, shortened borrowing from Narraganset (Algonquian) askutasquash, literally "the green things that may be eaten raw," from askut "green, raw" + asquash "eaten," in which the -ash is a plural affix (cf. succotash).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper