Mash

//mæʃ// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    A mass of mixed ingredients reduced to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure; a mass of anything in a soft pulpy state. uncountable
  2. 2
    A mesh. obsolete
  3. 3
    An infatuation, a crush, a fancy. obsolete
  4. 4
    A gun. Multicultural-London-English, countable, slang

    "This mash works but I don't know about yours […] Better hope your mash don't jam, bare ping ping like a BB […] I see a boy run with his mash, I see a boy run with his jooka […] Don't talk about mashes, we've lost about ten I know about cookers"

  5. 5
    Alternative form of maash (“mung bean”). alt-of, alternative
Show 10 more definitions
  1. 6
    Acronym of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
  2. 7
    mixture of ground animal feeds wordnet
  3. 8
    Ground or bruised malt, or meal of rye, wheat, corn, or other grain (or a mixture of malt and meal) steeped and stirred in hot water for making the wort. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A dandy, a masher. obsolete
  5. 10
    Initialism of municipal, academic, schools and hospitals Canada, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

    "Don, who is now a member of the Kings Counsel, has been practicing law for over four decades. Focused on municipal law in the MASH sector, his law firm, Lidstone and Company – Barristers and Solicitors has evolved to include 26 lawyers, two articling students and 12 support staff."

  6. 11
    a mixture of mashed malt grains and hot water; used in brewing wordnet
  7. 12
    Mashed potatoes. UK, countable, uncountable
  8. 13
    The object of one’s affections (regardless of sex). obsolete
  9. 14
    A mixture of meal or bran and water fed to animals. countable, uncountable
  10. 15
    A mess; trouble. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "For your vows and oaths, Or I doubt mainly, I shall be i' the mash " too"

Verb
  1. 1
    To convert into a mash; to reduce to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure transitive

    "We had fun mashing apples in a mill."

  2. 2
    To flirt, to make eyes, to make romantic advances.

    "“What's the yarn about your mashing a Miss Haverley up there? Not serious, I hope?”"

  3. 3
    reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading wordnet
  4. 4
    In brewing, to convert (for example malt, or malt and meal) into the mash which makes wort, by mixing it with hot water. transitive
  5. 5
    talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    To prepare a cup of tea in a teapot; to brew (tea). Northern-England, UK, Yorkshire, transitive

    "He took the kettle off the fire and mashed the tea."

  2. 7
    to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition wordnet
  3. 8
    To press down hard (on). ambitransitive

    "to mash on a bicycle pedal"

  4. 9
    To press. Southern-US, informal, transitive
  5. 10
    To act violently. archaic, intransitive
  6. 11
    To press (a button) rapidly and repeatedly. informal, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English mash, from Old English mǣsċ, māsċ, māx, from Proto-Germanic *maiskaz, *maiskō (“mixture, mash”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ-, *meyḱ- (“to mix”). Akin to German Meisch, Maische (“mash”), (compare meischen, maischen (“to mash, wash”)), Swedish mäsk (“mash”), and to Old English miscian (“to mix”). See mix.

Etymology 2

From Middle English mashen, maschen, meshen, from Old English *māsċan, *mǣsċan, from Proto-Germanic *maiskijaną. Cognate with German maischen. Compare also Middle Low German meskewert, mēschewert (“beerwort”).

Etymology 3

See mesh.

Etymology 4

Either by analogy with mash (“to press, to soften”), or more likely from Romani masha (“a fascinator, an enticer”), mashdva (“fascination, enticement”). Originally used in theater, and recorded in US in 1870s. Either originally used as mash, or a backformation from masher, from masha. Leland writes of the etymology: : It was introduced by the well-known gypsy family of actors, C., among whom Romany was habitually spoken. The word “masher” or “mash” means in that tongue to allure, delude, or entice. It was doubtless much aided in its popularity by its quasi-identity with the English word. But there can be no doubt as to the gypsy origin of “mash” as used on the stage. I am indebted for this information to the late well-known impresario [Albert Marshall] Palmer of New York, and I made a note of it years before the term had become at all popular.

Etymology 5

Either by analogy with mash (“to press, to soften”), or more likely from Romani masha (“a fascinator, an enticer”), mashdva (“fascination, enticement”). Originally used in theater, and recorded in US in 1870s. Either originally used as mash, or a backformation from masher, from masha. Leland writes of the etymology: : It was introduced by the well-known gypsy family of actors, C., among whom Romany was habitually spoken. The word “masher” or “mash” means in that tongue to allure, delude, or entice. It was doubtless much aided in its popularity by its quasi-identity with the English word. But there can be no doubt as to the gypsy origin of “mash” as used on the stage. I am indebted for this information to the late well-known impresario [Albert Marshall] Palmer of New York, and I made a note of it years before the term had become at all popular.

Etymology 6

Mostly clipping of machine gun, but also for imitative reasons, compare the gun-names mop and broom; intentionally chosen around 2000 due to its homonymy and obscurity for legal reasons.

Etymology 7

Probably an alteration of Marsh, a topological surname from Old English mersċ ("bog, swamp, marsh"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *móri ("sea; standing water").

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