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dash
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Dash
English
Etymology
From Middle English daschen, dassen, from Danish daske (“to slap, strike”), related to Swedish daska (“to smack, slap, spank”), of obscure origin. Compare German tatschen (“to grope, paw”), Old English dwǣsċan (“to quell, put out, destroy, extinguish”). See also dush.
Pronunciation
Noun
dash (plural dashes)
- (typography) Any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar).
- Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:dash
- Hypernyms: see Thesaurus:punctuation mark
- (computing) A hyphen or minus sign.
- (by extension) The longer of the two symbols of Morse code.
- A short run, flight.
- A rushing or violent onset.
- 1987, Archie Randolph Ammons, “Coming Round”, in Robert Pack, Jay Parini, editors, Introspections: American poets on one of their own poems, Hanover and London: University Press of New England for Middlebury College Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 18:
- The oar squeaks,
a dash sound like
moon-hustle on the river:
- Violent strike; a whack.
- 2018 January 24, “Irrelevant Things”, performed by C1 from LTH:
- They say that I’m way too cold, I never get tired of rappin
My word is bang where I come from
Watch be one work is magic
Do it and dash it
Smile on MAT
No way this peng one acting
Who got whacked and who got slapped
And who got spared by dashes
- A small quantity of a liquid substance etc.; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.
- Synonyms: drop, skoosh, soupçon; see also Thesaurus:modicum
- Add a dash of vinegar.
- (figurative, by extension) A slight admixture.
- Ostentatious vigor.
- (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia) A bribe or gratuity; a gift.
- Synonyms: douceur, sweetener; see also Thesaurus:bribe, Thesaurus:gift
- 2006, Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885–1950 (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora; 25), University of Rochester Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 99:
- Writing in 1924 on a similar situation in Ugep, the political officer, Mr. S. T. Harvey noted: "In the old days there was no specified dowry but merely dashes given to the father-in-law, from 8 to 20 rods according to the status of the man […] The dowry is made small because whatsoever a woman farms or reaps during her life time is by native custom the property of her parents."
- (dated, euphemistic) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)
- Synonyms: beep, blankety-blank
- 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes, Chapter VI, serialized in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853) p. 118
- Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you! but wanting still to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his pride once more into his waistband.
- Comment: Some editions leave this passage out. Of those that include it, some change the 'you!' to 'you?'.
- 1884, Lord Robert Gower, My Reminiscences, reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", The Christian Union, (29) 22, (May 29, 1884) p. 524
- Who the dash is this person whom none of us know? and what the dash does he do here?
- Ellipsis of dashboard.
- Synonyms: control panel, instrument panel
- 1955 October 19, Rex Stout, The Next Witness, Three Witnesses, 94 Bantam, →ISBN, page 31:
- The dash clock said 2:38 when […] I turned off a dirt road […] .
- (Internet, informal) The dashboard of a social media user.
- Synonym: graphical user interface
- 2018, anonymous, quoted in Mélanie Bourdaa, "'May We Meet Again': Social Bonds, Activities, and Identities in the #Clexa Fandom", in A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies (ed. Paul Booth), page 392:
- -i hope you find at least one thing on your dash that will make you laugh today.
- 2018, "notthesameknowledge", quoted in Randall Lake, Recovering Argument, unnumbered page:
- i cannot tell you how happy it makes me when i see my dash filled with selfies from other folks who look like me.
- 2018, Krista Ritchie, Becca Ritchie, Alphas Like Us, unnumbered page:
- “You wanna know what else is all over my dash? Gifs of you and your boyfriend."
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:dash.
- (UK, India) A prime symbol.
Derived terms
- dashing
- (typography): em dash, dash case, en dash, mutton dash, nine-dash line, nut dash, oblique dash, quotation dash, swung dash, wave dash, wedge-and-dash
- (dashboard): dashcam, dash cam
other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)
Translations
typographic symbol
|
colloquial: hyphen — see hyphen
Morse code symbol
|
short run
|
small quantity of liquid etc.
|
vigor — see vigor
dashboard — see dashboard
bribe, gratuity; gift
See also
- apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
- curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
- square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
- colon ( : )
- comma ( , )
- dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
- ellipsis ( … )
- exclamation mark ( ! )
- fraction slash ( ⁄ )
- guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
- hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
- interpunct ( · )
- interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
- brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
- full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
- question mark ( ? )
- quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
- quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
- semicolon ( ; )
- slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
- space ( ] [ )
Verb
dash (third-person singular simple present dashes, present participle dashing, simple past and past participle dashed)
- (intransitive) To run quickly or for a short distance.
- 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 670:
- As our train to Paris dashed through the labyrynthine flyovers at Porchefontaine, barely a mile from Versailles, the 75 m.p.h. limit was already almost attained.
- (intransitive, informal) To leave or depart.
- Synonyms: go, take off; see also Thesaurus:leave
- I have to dash now. See you soon.
- (transitive) To destroy by striking (against).
- Synonyms: beat, whack; see also Thesaurus:hit
- He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.
- 1865, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “The Shipwreck”, in [Sophia Thoreau; William Ellery Channing], editors, Cape Cod, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 14:
- There were the tawny rocks, like lions couchant, defying the ocean, whose waves incessantly dashed against and scoured them with vast quantities of gravel.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter XXI, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
- Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.
- 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:
- Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for she was but nine or ten years old.
- (transitive) To throw violently.
- Synonyms: chuck, feck, fling, sling; see also Thesaurus:throw
- The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.
- 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 792:
- If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 24:
- The rooks are blown about the skies;
The forest crack’d, the waters curl’d,
The cattle huddled on the lea;
And wildly dash’d on tower and tree
The sunbeam strikes along the world: […]
- 2018 January 24, “Irrelevant Things”, performed by C1 from LTH:
- They say that I’m way too cold, I never get tired of rappin / My word is bang where I come from / Watch be one work is magic / Do it and dash it / Smile on MAT / No way this peng one acting / Who got whacked and who got slapped / And who got spared by dashes
- (ambitransitive, sometimes figurative) To sprinkle; to splatter.
- a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
- On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade white-dashing fall.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 41:
- The very source and fount of Day
Is dash’d with wandering isles of night.
- 1712 January 11 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, December 31, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 262; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 305:
- [W]hen I draw any faulty character, I consider all those persons to whom the malice of the world may possibly apply it, and take care to dash it with such particular circumstances as may prevent all such ill-natured applications.
- (transitive, dated) To mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality.
- Synonyms: adulter, corrupt, debase, pollute, sophisticate
- to dash wine with water
- (transitive, of hopes or dreams) To ruin; to destroy.
- Synonyms: snuff, wreck; see also Thesaurus:kill, Thesaurus:destroy
- Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.
- (transitive) To dishearten; to sadden.
- Synonyms: deject, depress; see also Thesaurus:sadden
- Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.
- (transitive, usually with down or off) To complete hastily.
- He dashed down his eggs.
- She dashed off her homework.
- (transitive) To draw or write quickly; jot.
- 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter I, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:
- "Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe.
- (transitive, dated, euphemistic) Damn (in forming oaths).
Derived terms
Translations
to run short distance
|
informal: to leave
to destroy
|
to throw violently
|
to sprinkle
|
to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner
of hopes or dreams: to ruin
|
to dishearten
|
to complete hastily
Interjection
dash
- (euphemistic) Damn!
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dammit
Derived terms
Translations
See also
Anagrams
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