squash 1
— squasher , n.
/skwosh, skwawsh/ , v.t.
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.
v.i.
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.
n.
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. See illus. under racket 2 .
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. Brit. a beverage made from fruit juice and soda water: lemon squash.
[ 1555-65; esquasser exquassare. See EX- 1 , QUASH ]
Syn. 2, 3. quell, crush, repress.
squash 2
/skwosh, skwawsh/ , n. , pl. squashes , ( esp. 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.
[ 1635-45, Amer.; askútasquash (pl.) ]