English

Noun

A game of squash

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, chapter 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. (Britain) A soft drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water.

   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. (obsolete, countable) Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.
5. (obsolete, countable, pejorative) Something unripe or soft.
6. (obsolete, countable) A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.
7. (slang, professional wrestling) An extremely one-sided, usually short, match.
   • Orr, James (18 August 2014), “WWE SummerSlam 2014: How Twitter reacted to John Cena vs Brock Lesnar”, in (Please provide the title of the work), 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 usage examples of this term, see Citations:squash.

Derived terms

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 1419644386, 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 usage examples of this term, see Citations:squash.

Derived terms

• squash up
• squashy
• squish

Translations

Etymology 2

Shortening of askutasquash, Narragansett ("[a vegetable] eaten green (or raw)").

Wikispecies

Noun

Varieties of squash

squash ‎(countable and uncountable, plural squash or squashes)

1. (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 subsp. 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.
2. Any other similar-looking plant of other genera.
   1. Lagenaria siceraria (syn. Cucurbita verrucosa), long-neck squash
3. The edible or decorative fruit of these plants, or this fruit prepared as a dish.

   We ate squash and green beans.

Derived terms

• squash beetle (Epilachna borealis)
• squash bug (Coreidae)
• opo squash (Lagenaria spp.)
• winter squash
• summer squash

Translations

Etymology 3

shortening of musquash

Noun

squash ‎(plural squashes)

1. (obsolete, zoo, countable) Muskrat.
   • Dampier

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

French

Etymology

Borrowing from English squash

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skwaʃ/

Noun

squash m ‎(plural squashs)

1. (sports) (uncountable) squash

   Jouer au squash.

2. squash game

   On s'est fait deux squashs aujourd'hui.

3. squash court

   La ville a construit trois squashs municipaux.

References

• “squash” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowing from English squash

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʋɔʂ/
• Rhymes: -ɔʂ

Alternative forms

• skvåsj

Noun

squash m

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

Inflection

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowing from English squash

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʋɔʂ/
• Rhymes: -ɔʂ

Alternative forms

• skvåsj

Noun

squash m

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

Inflection

Portuguese

Noun

squash m (uncountable)

1. squash (sport)