squelch

American  

[skwelch] / skwɛltʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to strike or press with crushing force; crush down; squash.

2. to put down, suppress, or silence, as with a crushing retort or argument.

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verb (used without object)

1. to make a splashing sound.

2. to tread heavily in water, mud, wet shoes, etc., with such a sound.

noun

1. a squelched or crushed mass of anything.

2. a splashing sound.

3. an act of squelching or suppressing, as by a crushing retort or argument.

4. Also called noise suppressor.  Also called squelch circuit,.  Electronics. a circuit in a receiver, as a radio receiver, that automatically reduces or eliminates noise when the receiver is tuned to a frequency at which virtually no carrier wave occurs.

squelch British  

/ skwɛltʃ /

verb

1. (intr) to walk laboriously through soft wet material or with wet shoes, making a sucking noise

2. (intr) to make such a noise

3. (tr) to crush completely; squash

4. informal (tr) to silence, as by a crushing retort

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noun

1. a squelching sound

2. something that has been squelched

3. electronics a circuit that cuts off the audio-frequency amplifier of a radio receiver in the absence of an input signal, in order to suppress background noise

4. informal a crushing remark

Other Word Forms

• squelcher noun
• squelching adjective
• squelchingly adverb
• squelchingness noun
• squelchy adjective
• unsquelched adjective

Etymology

Origin of squelch

1610–20; variant of quelch in same sense (perhaps blend of quell and quash ); initial s perhaps from squash ¹

Example Sentences

My socks squelch with each step in my new boots, earning a string of cringes.

From Literature

I see now that I was being “optoomuchstic” in thinking I could squelch your natural curiosity and powers of deduction.

From Literature

Still, she said, the case revealed "a series of statements by Zuckerberg at the time of those acquisitions that looked like a desire to squelch a nascent threat to Facebook's dominance".

From BBC

This year has seen unrelenting bad news for L.A. nightlife — the impacts of the wildfires, the continued Hollywood strike fallout, the cost-of-living crisis and ICE raids and protests that temporarily squelched downtown’s after-dark industry.

From Los Angeles Times

Heavy hailstones hissed into the grass and squelched into the mud and clanged off our robot.

From Literature

Related Words

• crush
• extinguish
• muffle
• oppress
• repress
• smother
• squash
• stifle
• thwart