squash

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /skwɒʃ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /skwɔʃ/
• (US, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /skwɑʃ/
• (rural US, intrusive r) IPA^(key): /skwɔɹʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒʃ

Etymology 1

From Middle English squachen, squatchen, from Old French esquacher, escachier, from Vulgar Latin *excoāctiāre, from Latin ex + coāctāre. Probably influenced by Middle English quashen, quassen, from Old French esquasser, escasser (“to crush, shatter, destroy, break”), from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex- + quassare (“to shatter”) (see quash).

Noun

squash (countable and uncountable, plural squashes)

1. (uncountable) A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

2. (UK) A non-alcoholic drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water.

   Synonyms: cordial, (uncommon) high juice

   • 2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4:

     Sure. I pour hot squash all over myself and we all have a good chuckle. Everyone except Muggins here.

   When I'm thirsty I drink squash; it tastes much nicer than plain water.

3. A place or a situation where people have limited space to move.

   It's a bit of a squash in this small room.

4. (biology) A preparation made by placing material on a slide (flat, rectangular piece of glass), covering it and applying pressure.

   Synonym: smear

5. (obsolete, countable) Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.
6. (obsolete, countable, derogatory) Something unripe or soft.
7. (obsolete, countable) A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.
8. (slang, professional wrestling) An extremely one-sided, usually short, match.
   • Orr, James (2014 August 18) “WWE SummerSlam 2014: How Twitter reacted to John Cena vs Brock Lesnar”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, The Independent, retrieved 30 July 2015

     It was one of the most shocking WWE title matches ever witnessed, and effectively a 20-minute squash match as Brock Lesnar "conquered" his opponent.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:squash.

Derived terms

Related terms

• quash

Descendants

Translations

See also

• racketball

Verb

squash (third-person singular simple present squashes, present participle squashing, simple past and past participle squashed)

1. (transitive) To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To compress or restrict (oneself) into a small space; to squeeze.

   Somehow, she squashed all her books into her backpack, which was now too heavy to carry.

   We all managed to squash into Mum's tiny car.

3. (transitive) To suppress; to force into submission.
   • 2006, Chris Rodda, Liars for Jesus, →ISBN, page 390:

     A somewhat popular myth about the Whiskey Rebellion is that Washington personally led the troops into western Pennsylvania and squashed the rebellion.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:squash.

Synonyms

• (to compress): condense, press; see also Thesaurus:compress

Derived terms

• squash up
• squashy
• squish

Translations

Etymology 2

Shortening of Narragansett askutasquash (“ eaten green (or raw)”), from askut (“green, raw”) +‎ asquash (“eaten”).

Noun

squash (countable and uncountable, plural squash or squashes)

2. (botany, countable) A plant and its fruit of any of a few species of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd kind.
   1. Cucurbita maxima, including hubbard squash, great winter squash, buttercup squash, and some varieties of pumpkins.
   2. Cucurbita argyrosperma (syn. Cucurbita mixta), cushaw squash.
   3. Cucurbita moschata, butternut squash, Barbary squash, China squash.
   4. Cucurbita pepo, most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini.
3. (botany) Any other similar-looking plant of other genera.
   1. Lagenaria siceraria (syn. Cucurbita verrucosa), calabash, long-neck squash.
4. (cooking) The edible or decorative fruit of these plants, or this fruit prepared as a dish.

   We ate squash and green beans.

Hyponyms

• pumpkin

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Clipping of musquash.

Noun

squash (plural squashes)

1. (obsolete, countable) Muskrat.
   • 1705, William Dampier, A Supplement of the Voyage Round the World:

     The squash is a four-footed beast, bigger than a cat.

Further reading

• “squash”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• squash on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cucurbita on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cucurbita on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

References

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /es̺kwaʃ/
• Rhymes: -es̺kwaʃ

Noun

squash inan

1. squash (sport)

Declension

Further reading

• "squash" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:

squash

Wikipedia ^cs

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -oʃ
• Hyphenation: squash

Noun

squash m inan (related adjective squashový)

1. (sports) squash

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• squash in Internetová jazyková příručka

Finnish

Etymology

From English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskuɑs/,
• IPA^(key): /ˈskuɑʃ/,
• Syllabification^(key): squ‧ash

Noun

squash

1. (sports) squash

   Synonym: kössi

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “squash”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:

squash

Wikipedia ^fr

Etymology

Borrowed from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skwaʃ/

Noun

squash m (plural squashs)

1. (sports) (uncountable) squash

   jouer au squash ― to play squash

2. squash game

   On s’est fait deux squashs aujourd’hui.

   We've played two games of squash today.

3. squash court

   La ville a construit trois squashs municipaux.

   The town has built three municipal squash courts.

Further reading

• “squash”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• skvåsj

Etymology

Borrowed from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʋɔʂ/
• Rhymes: -ɔʂ

Noun

squash m (definite singular squashen, indefinite plural squasher, definite plural squashene)

1. squash (fruit)
2. squash (sport)
3. squash (soft drink)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• skvåsj

Etymology

Borrowed from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʋɔʂ/
• Rhymes: -ɔʂ

Noun

squash m (definite singular squashen, indefinite plural squashar, definite plural squashane)

1. squash (fruit)
2. squash (sport)
3. squash (soft drink)

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

squash

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skwɔʂ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔʂ
• Syllabification: squash

Noun

squash m inan

1. squash (sport)

Declension

Further reading

• squash in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English squash.

Noun

squash m (uncountable)

1. squash (sport)

Further reading

• “squash” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Slovak

Etymology

Borrowed from English squash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

squash m inan (genitive singular squashu, declension pattern of stroj)

1. squash (sport)

Declension

Derived terms

• squashový

Further reading

• “squash”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Swedish

Noun

squash c

1. (sports) squash

Declension

Derived terms

• squashbana
• squashboll
• squashracket

Noun

squash c

1. (botany) squash (plant and fruit)

   Synonym: zucchini

Declension

References

• squash in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• squash in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• squash in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)