Hypertext Webster Gateway: "squash"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Squash \Squash\, n.
A game much like rackets, played in a walled court with soft
rubber balls and bats like tennis rackets.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Squash \Squash\, n.
1. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe
pod of pease.
Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a
boy; as a squash is before 't is a peascod. --Shak.
2. Hence, something unripe or soft; -- used in contempt.
``This squash, this gentleman.'' --Shak.
3. A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft
bodies. --Arbuthnot.
My fall was stopped by a terrible squash. --Swift.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Squash \Squash\, n. [Cf. {Musquash}.] (Zo["o]l.)
An American animal allied to the weasel. [Obs.] --Goldsmith.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Squash \Squash\, n. [Massachusetts Indian asq, pl. asquash, raw,
green, immaturate, applied to fruit and vegetables which were
used when green, or without cooking; askutasquash vine
apple.] (Bot.)
A plant and its fruit of the genus {Cucurbita}, or gourd
kind.
Note: The species are much confused. The long-neck squash is
called {Cucurbita verrucosa}, the Barbary or China
squash, {C. moschata}, and the great winter squash, {C.
maxima}, but the distinctions are not clear.
{Squash beetle} (Zo["o]l.), a small American beetle
({Diabrotica, or Galeruca vittata}) which is often
abundant and very injurious to the leaves of squash,
cucumber, etc. It is striped with yellow and black. The
name is applied also to other allied species.
{Squash bug} (Zo["o]l.), a large black American hemipterous
insect ({Coreus, or Anasa, tristis}) injurious to squash
vines.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Squash \Squash\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Squashed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Squashing}.] [OE. squashen, OF. escachier, esquachier, to
squash, to crush, F. ['e]cacher, perhaps from (assumed) LL.
excoacticare, fr. L. ex + coactare to constrain, from cogere,
coactum, to compel. Cf. {Cogent}, {Squat}, v. i.]
To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
squash
n 1: any of numerous annual tendril-bearing trailing plants of
the genus Cucurbita grown for their fleshy edible fruits
[syn: {squash vine}]
2: edible fruit of a squash plant; eaten as a vegetable
3: a game played in an enclosed court by two or four players
who strike the ball with long-handled rackets [syn: {squash
racquets}, {squash rackets}]
v : to compress with violence, out of natural shape or
condition; "crush an aluminum can"; "squeeze a lemon"
[syn: {crush}, {squelch}, {mash}, {squeeze}]
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