%quas%

A variety of squash with small egg-shaped fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ American Indian name. ] (Zool.) See Muskrat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Musquash root (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant (Cicuta maculata), having a poisonous root. See Water hemlock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A small, handsome trout (Salvelinus oquassa), found in some of the lakes in Maine; -- called also blueback trout. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of beer. Same as Quass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Squash. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whales
Against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels, quashed,
Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dashed. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To crush; to subdue; to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely; as, to quash a rebellion. [ 1913 Webster ]

Contrition is apt to quash or allay all worldly grief. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be shaken, or dashed about, with noise. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A negro of the West Indies. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ L. ] As if; as though; as it were; in a manner sense or degree; having some resemblance to; qualified; -- used as an adjective, or a prefix with a noun or an adjective; as, a quasi contract, an implied contract, an obligation which has arisen from some act, as if from a contract; a quasi corporation, a body that has some, but not all, of the peculiar attributes of a corporation; a quasi argument, that which resembles, or is used as, an argument; quasi historical, apparently historical, seeming to be historical. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A corporation consisting of a person or body of persons invested with some of the qualities of an artificial person, though not expressly incorporated, esp. the official of certain municipal divisions such as counties, schools districts, and the towns of some States of the United States, certain church officials, as a churchwarden, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ So called from the first words of the Latin introit, quasi modo geniti infantes as newborn babes, 1 Pet. ii. 2. ] (R. C. Ch.) The first Sunday after Easter; Low Sunday. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Fiction) The main character in Victor Hugo's novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. The novel was first published in French under the title “Notre Dame de Paris”. Quasimodo is a deformed and ugly hunchback who is bellringer at the cathedral of Notre Dame during the reign of Louis XI. He rescues a gypsy girl Esmeralda, falsely convicted of a crime and about to be excuted, and carries her to sanctuary in the cathedral. Near the end of the book he dies while again rescuing her from an abductor. In a movie made in 1923 Quasimodo was portrayed by the actor Lon Chaney, whose impressive makeup and superb acting drew many plaudits. His shout of “Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” when rescuing Esmeralda is still sometimes imitated for humorous or dramatic effect. [ PJC ]

{ or sometimes }. A corporation, such as a railroad company, lighting company, water company, etc., organized or chartered to follow a public calling or to render services more or less essential to the general public convenience or safety. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ , n. (Zool.) The brown coati. See Coati. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Russ. kvas'. ] A thin, sour beer, made by pouring warm water on rye or barley meal and letting it ferment, -- much used by the Russians. Called also kvass. [ written also kvass and quas. ] [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]

n. [ L. quassatio, from quassare to shake. See Quash to crush. ] The act of shaking, or the state of being shaken. Gayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. From the name of a negro, Quassy, or Quash, who prescribed this article as a specific. ] The wood of several tropical American trees of the order Simarubeæ, as Quassia amara, Picræna excelsa, and Simaruba amara. It is intensely bitter, and is used in medicine and sometimes as a substitute for hops in making beer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. quassine. See Quassia. ] (Chem.) The bitter principle of quassia, extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- formerly called quassite. [ Written also quassīin, and quassine. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Musquash. ] (Zool.) An American animal allied to the weasel. [ Obs. ] Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Massachusetts Indian asq, pl. asquash, raw, green, immature, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The species are much confused. The long-neck squash is called Cucurbita verrucosa, the Barbary or China squash, Cucurbita moschata, and the great winter squash, Cucurbita maxima, but the distinctions are not clear. [ 1913 Webster ]

Squash beetle (Zool.), a small American beetle (Diabrotica vittata, syn. 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 (Zool.), a large black American hemipterous insect (Coreus tristis syn. Anasa tristis) injurious to squash vines. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Squashed p. pr. & vb. n. Squashing. ] [ OE. squachen, OF. escachier, esquachier, to squash, to crush, F. écacher, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of pease. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before 't is a peascod. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, something unripe or soft; -- used in contempt. “This squash, this gentleman.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

My fall was stopped by a terrible squash. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A game much like rackets, played in a walled court with soft rubber balls and bats like tennis rackets; -- called also squash rackets. [ PJC ]

n. One who, or that which, squashes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being squashy, or soft. [ 1913 Webster ]