squash

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. [ 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 ]

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 ]