squash

Etymology 1

From Middle English squachen, squatchen, from Old French esquacher, escachier, from Vulgar Latin *excoāctiāre, from Latin ex + coāctāre. Probably influenced by Middle English quashen, quassen, from Old French esquasser, escasser (“to crush, shatter, destroy, break”), from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex- + quassare (“to shatter”) (see quash).

noun

1. (uncountable) A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.
   Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall. 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
2. (UK) A soft drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water.
   Sure. I pour hot squash all over myself and we all have a good chuckle. Everyone except Muggins here. 2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4
   When I'm thirsty I drink squash; it tastes much nicer than plain water.
3. A place or a situation where people have limited space to move.
   It's a bit of a squash in this small room.
4. (biology) A preparation made by placing material on a slide (flat, rectangular piece of glass), covering it and applying pressure.
5. (obsolete, countable) Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.
6. (obsolete, countable, derogatory) Something unripe or soft.
7. (obsolete, countable) A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.
8. (slang, professional wrestling) An extremely one-sided, usually short, match.
   It was one of the most shocking WWE title matches ever witnessed, and effectively a 20-minute squash match as Brock Lesnar "conquered" his opponent. Orr, James (2014-08-18), “WWE SummerSlam 2014: How Twitter reacted to John Cena vs Brock Lesnar”, in, The Independent, retrieved 2015-07-30

verb

1. (transitive) To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To compress or restrict (oneself) into a small space; to squeeze.
   Somehow, she squashed all her books into her backpack, which was now too heavy to carry.
   We all managed to squash into Mum's tiny car.
3. (transitive) To suppress; to force into submission.
   A somewhat popular myth about the Whiskey Rebellion is that Washington personally led the troops into western Pennsylvania and squashed the rebellion. 2006, Chris Rodda, Liars for Jesus, page 390

Etymology 2

Shortening of Narragansett askutasquash (“[a vegetable] eaten green (or raw)”), from askut (“green, raw”) + asquash (“eaten”).

noun

1. (botany, countable) A plant and its fruit of any of a few species of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd kind.
   1. Cucurbita maxima, including hubbard squash, great winter squash, buttercup squash, and some varieties of pumpkins.
   2. Cucurbita argyrosperma (syn. Cucurbita mixta), cushaw squash.
   3. Cucurbita moschata, butternut squash, Barbary squash, China squash.
   4. Cucurbita pepo, most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini.
2. (botany) Any other similar-looking plant of other genera.
   1. Lagenaria siceraria (syn. Cucurbita verrucosa), calabash, long-neck squash.
3. (cooking) The edible or decorative fruit of these plants, or this fruit prepared as a dish.
   We ate squash and green beans.

Etymology 3

Clipping of musquash.

noun

1. (obsolete, countable) Muskrat.
   The squash is a four-footed beast, bigger than a cat. 1705, William Dampier, A Supplement of the Voyage Round the World