mash
Plural: mashes
Noun
- a mixture of mashed malt grains and hot water; used in brewing
- mixture of ground animal feeds
- A mass of mixed ingredients reduced to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure; a mass of anything in a soft pulpy state.
- 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.
- Mashed potatoes.
- A mixture of meal or bran and water fed to animals.
- A mess; trouble.
- A mesh.
- An infatuation, a crush, a fancy.
- A dandy, a masher.
- The object of one’s affections (regardless of sex).
- A gun.
- Alternative form of maash (“mung bean”).
Verb
Verb Forms: mashed, mashing, mashes
- To reduce something to a soft, pulpy mass by crushing.
- to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition
- talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions
- reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading
- "mash the garlic"
- To convert into a mash; to reduce to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure
- In brewing, to convert (for example malt, or malt and meal) into the mash which makes wort, by mixing it with hot water.
- To prepare a cup of tea in a teapot; to brew (tea).
- To press down hard (on).
- To press.
- To act violently.
- To press (a button) rapidly and repeatedly.
- To flirt, to make eyes, to make romantic advances.
Examples
- He had to MASH his letters together mentally to find a valid word, but it paid off.
- The potatoes need to be mashed.
- We had fun mashing apples in a mill.
Origin / Etymology
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.
Synonyms
bray, butterfly, chat up, comminute, coquet, coquette, crunch, crush, dally, flirt, grind, philander, romance, squash, squeeze, squelch, firearm, gat, gun, iron, piece, pomate
Scrabble Score: 9
mash: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordmash: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
mash: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary