Adjacent Words

Quash definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

QUASH, v.t. [L. quasso, quatio.]
1. Properly, to beat down or beat in pieces; to crush.
The whales against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels, quash'd.
2. To crush; to subdue; as, to quash a rebellion.
3. In law, to abate, annul, overthrow or make void; as, to quash an indictment. He pays judgment of the writ or declaration that the same may be quashed.
QUASH, v.i. To be shaken with a noise.
QUASH, n. A species of cucurbita; but in America pronounced squash; so called probably from it softness. [See the Verb.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: put down by force or intimidation; "The government quashes any attempt of an uprising"; "China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently"; "The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land" [syn: repress, quash, keep down, subdue, subjugate, reduce]
2: declare invalid; "The contract was annulled"; "void a plea" [syn: invalidate, annul, quash, void, avoid, nullify] [ant: formalise, formalize, validate]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English quashen to smash, from Anglo-French quasser, casser, from Latin quassare to shake violently, shatter, frequentative of quatere to shake Date: 13th century to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely <quash a rebellion> II. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English quassen, from Anglo-French casser, quasser to annul, from Late Latin cassare, from Latin cassus void Date: 14th century to nullify especially by judicial action <quash an indictment>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 annul; reject as not valid, esp. by a legal procedure. 2 suppress; crush (a rebellion etc.). Etymology: ME f. OF quasser, casser annul f. LL cassare f. cassus null, void or f. L cassare frequent. of quatere shake

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quash Quash, v. t. [OF. quasser, F. casser, fr. L. quassare to shake, shatter, shiver, v. intens. fr. quatere, quassum, to shake, shatter. Cf. Concussion, Discuss, Rescue, and also Quash to annul.] 1. To beat down, or beat in pieces; to dash forcibly; to crush. The whales Against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels, quashed, Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dashed. --Waller. 2. To crush; to subdue; to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely; as, to quash a rebellion. Contrition is apt to quash or allay all worldly grief. --Barrow.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quash Quash, n. Same as Squash.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quash Quash, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quashed; p. pr. & vb. n. Quashing.] [OF. quasser, F. casser, fr. L. cassare to annihilate, annul, fr. cassus empty, vain, of uncertain origin. The word has been confused with L. quassare to shake, F. casser to break, which is probably of different origin. Cf. Cashier, v. t.] (Law) To abate, annul, overthrow, or make void; as, to quash an indictment. --Blackstone.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quash Quash, v. i. To be shaken, or dashed about, with noise.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(quashes, quashing, quashed) 1. If a court or someone in authority quashes a decision or judgment, they officially reject it. The Appeal Court has quashed the convictions of all eleven people. VERB: V n 2. If someone quashes rumours, they say or do something to demonstrate that the rumours are not true. Graham attempted to quash rumours of growing discontent. VERB: V n 3. To quash a rebellion or protest means to stop it, often in a violent way. Troops were displaying an obvious reluctance to get involved in quashing demonstrations. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Crush, beat to pieces. 2. Crush, subdue, quell, repress, suppress, extinguish, put down. 3. (Law.) Annul, nullify, overthrow, cancel, make void, abate.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To suppress, annul or overthrow; vulgarly pronounced squash: they squashed the indictment.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abrogate, annihilate, annul, asphyxiate, black out, bottle up, cancel, censor, choke, choke off, clamp down on, cork, cork up, crack down on, crush, damp down, discharge, dissolve, drown, extinguish, gag, hold down, hugger-mugger, hush, hush up, hush-hush, invalidate, jump on, keep down, keep under, kill, muffle, muzzle, negate, nullify, overrule, overthrow, overwhelm, pour water on, put down, put out, quell, quench, reject, repress, rescind, reverse, revoke, set aside, shush, shut down on, silence, sit down on, sit on, smash, smother, snuff out, squash, squelch, stamp out, stanch, stifle, strangle, stultify, subdue, suffocate, suppress, throttle, throw out, trample out, trample underfoot, undo, vacate, vitiate, void