I. ˈməsh, chiefly dial ˈmu̇sh noun
( -es )
Etymology: probably alteration of mash
1. : cornmeal boiled in water, eaten hot as a cereal or pudding, fried as cakes, or molded until cold and then sliced and fried — compare hasty pudding
2. : something having the consistency of cornmeal mush
perspired so much the cast under his armpits … turned to mush — Earle Birney
3. : something soft and spongy or shapeless: as
a. : a formless mass
b. : weak sentimentality or mawkish amorousness : drivel
oratorical mush
the tenderness never becomes mush — Coulton Waugh
it isn't youthful romance, it's the mush of senility — Erle Stanley Gardner
c. slang : mouth , face
slammed him in the mush with the ball, and his eyes watered — J.T.Farrell
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
1. chiefly dialect : to reduce to or mix up in a crumbly mass : crush , pulverize — often used with up
mush up papier-mâché animals — R.L.Shayon
2. slang : to make amorously sentimental — used with up
he would mush it up and … we would sway sweet and slow — R.P.Warren
intransitive verb
1. : to give way : crumble , squash
does not mush down — advt
the top of the pile sank, the lower logs mushing out toward the water — Mich. Log Marks
2. of an airplane
a. : to fly in a half-stalled condition with controls ineffective
throttled back and mushed in — Walt Sheldon
b. : to fail to gain altitude or to lose it when the angle of attack would normally indicate a gain
he was miles high, mushing, nearly slumping, in the rare air — J.G.Cozzens
3. slang : to be effusive : gush ; especially : to make love in public
III. ˈməsh noun
( -es )
Etymology: short for mushroom
slang : umbrella
IV. ˈməsh, chiefly dial ˈmu̇sh verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: probably from American French moucher to go fast, from French mouche fly, from Latin musca — more at midge
intransitive verb
: to hike or travel especially over snow with a dogsled
mush over a wilderness that no sled track has ever crossed before — Klondy Nelson
huskies bark excitedly as they mush across the ice and snow — Robert Meyer
— often used in the imperative as a command to a dog team
snapped the long lash of his whip … cried mush — Frederick Palmer
transitive verb
: to urge (a dog team) forward
the driver mushed the dogs — Nan Dorland
: transport by means of a dog team
V. noun
( -es )
: a hike especially across snow with a dog team