quash

English

Etymology

Middle English quaschen, quasshen, cwessen, quassen, from Old French quasser, from Latin quassāre, present active infinitive of quassō, under the influence of cassō (“I annul”), from Latin quatiō (“I shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁t- (“to shake”) (same root for the English words: pasta, paste, pastiche, pastry). Cognate with Spanish quejar (“to complain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwɒʃ/
• IPA^(key): /kwɑʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒʃ

Verb

1. To defeat decisively.

   The army quashed the rebellion.

   • (Can we date this quote by Barrow and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Contrition is apt to quash or allay all worldly grief.

   • 2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there

2. To crush or dash to pieces.
   • (Can we date this quote by Waller and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The whales / Against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels, quashed, / Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dashed.

3. (law) To void or suppress (a subpoena, decision, etc.).

Related terms

• cask
• casket
• concussion
• discuss, discussion
• fracas
• percussion
• rescue
• squash

Translations

to defeat forcibly

• Dutch: onderdrukken (nl), smoren (nl)
• Finnish: tukahduttaa (fi), kukistaa (fi)
• Georgian: ჩახშობა (čaxšoba), განადგურება (ganadgureba)
• Italian: cassare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: tłumić (pl)
• Russian: сокрушать (ru) (sokrušatʹ)
• Spanish: aplastar (es); derrotar (es)

to void or suppress (a subpoena, decision)

• Dutch: vernietigen (nl), ongeldig verklaren
• Finnish: kumota (fi)
• French: supprimer (fr), annuler (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: გაუქმება (gaukmeba), ანულირება (anulireba)
• Polish: unieważniać (pl)
• Portuguese: anular (pt), cassar (pt)
• Russian: отменять (ru) (otmenjatʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• (deprecated template usage) Bulgarian: спирам, потушавам (1), отменям, анулирам (2)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) German: vernichten, unterdrücken, ablehnen, verwerfen, aufheben (2)

Anagrams

• huqas