Squash Meaning
/skwɒʃ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.
nounA non-alcoholic drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water or milk.
Sentence Examples
I'd like to play a game of squash.
I took up squash only a few months ago.
He hurt his back playing squash.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He used his foot to ____ the can flat.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We planted several varieties of ____, including pumpkin and zucchini, in our large garden.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"The bat, as a racquet used to be called, is the chief tool of the squash tradesman."
— 2007, James Zug, Squash: A History of the Game, Scribner, →ISBN, page 1:
"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, →ISBN, page 390:
"[…] rain, too, had lately fallen, and had decidedly not evaporated, since, at every step, I went squash! squash! up to the tops of my boots, and many times very extent, stretching to the eastward, […]"
— 1848, The Lotus, page 40:
"[…] to catch all the rain […]; my boots went squash, squash, as I turned on to the high road, […]"
— 1881, Frederick Lancelot H. Morrice, The Nightless North: A Walk Across Lapland, page 74:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He used his foot to ____ the can flat.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We planted several varieties of ____, including pumpkin and zucchini, in our large garden.