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.
fi helkkari (damn) · hu a fene egye meg (damn) · hu a fenébe (damn) · nl verdorie (damn) · de Mist (damn) · de verdammt (damn) · fi samperi (damn) · de verflucht (damn)
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.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) Any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar).
(countable, uncountable) Any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar). ▸ A hyphen or minus sign.
(broadly, countable, uncountable) The longer of the two symbols of Morse code.
(countable, uncountable) A short run, flight.
When the feds came they did the dash.
(countable, uncountable) A rushing or violent onset.
The oar squeaks,
a dash sound like
moon-hustle on the river: 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:
(countable, uncountable) Violent strike; a whack.
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 2018 January 24, “Irrelevant Things”, performed by C1 from LTH:
(countable, uncountable) A small quantity of a liquid substance etc.; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.
Add a dash of vinegar.
(broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable) A slight admixture.
There is a dash of craziness in his personality.
(uncountable) Ostentatious vigor.
Aren't we full of dash this morning?
(Nigeria, countable, qualifier:Ghana; Liberia; Ghana; Liberia, uncountable) A bribe or gratuity; a gift.
The traditional practice of offering gifts or "dash" to chiefs has often been misinterpreted by scholars to provide a cultural explanation for the pervasive incidence of bribery and corruption in modern Africa. 1992, George Billy Nii Ayittey, Africa Betrayed, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 44:
The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars. 2008, Lizzie Williams, updated by Mark Shenley, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide, published 2012, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 109:
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." 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:
(countable, dated, euphemistic, uncountable) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)
Who the dash is this person whom none of us know? and what the dash does he do here? 1884, Lord Robert Gower, My Reminiscences, reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", The Christian Union, (29) 22, (May 29, 1884) p. 524
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?'. 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes, Chapter VI, serialized in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853) p. 118
(abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable) Ellipsis of dashboard.
The dash clock said 2:38 when[…] I turned off a dirt road[…]. 1955 October 19, Rex Stout, The Next Witness, Three Witnesses, 94 Bantam, →ISBN, page 31:
(Internet, countable, informal, uncountable) Ellipsis of dashboard. ▸ The dashboard of a social media user.
“You wanna know what else is all over my dash? Gifs of you and your boyfriend." 2018, Krista Ritchie, Becca Ritchie, Alphas Like Us, unnumbered page:
-i hope you find at least one thing on your dash that will make you laugh today. 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 cannot tell you how happy it makes me when i see my dash filled with selfies from other folks who look like me. 2018, "notthesameknowledge", quoted in Randall Lake, Recovering Argument, unnumbered page
(India, UK, countable, uncountable) A prime symbol.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
dashes
Number=Plur
lexicographic
Deriveds
do the dash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · 100-meter dash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dashpot (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · oblique dash · dashy (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dashcam (dashboard) · airdash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · bedash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · 440-yard dash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · em dash · mutton dash · backdash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · nut dash · swung dash · splatterdash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · cut a dash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dashpoint (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dashism (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · slapdash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · pebble dashdash-wheel (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dash cam (dashboard) · dashlike (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dash cherry (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dashtop (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · spatterdash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dashing · wave dash · wedge-and-dash · dashlight (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · trolley dash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · revel-dash (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · quotation dash · en dash · nine-dash line · make a dash for it (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dash-dotted (other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)) · dash case
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.
Meanings
(intransitive) To run quickly or for a short distance.
He dashed across the field.
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. 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 670:
(informal, intransitive) To leave or depart.
I have to dash now. See you soon.
(transitive) To destroy by striking (against).
Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes. 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
There were the tawny rocks, like lions couchant, defying the ocean, whose waves incessantly dashed against and scoured them with vast quantities of gravel. 1865, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “The Shipwreck”, in [Sophia Thoreau; William Ellery Channing], editors, Cape Cod, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 14:
He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.
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. 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[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
(transitive) To throw violently.
The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.
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: […] 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 24:
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 2018 January 24, “Irrelevant Things”, performed by C1 from LTH:
If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound. 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:
(ambitransitive, figuratively, sometimes) To sprinkle; to splatter.
[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. 1712 January 10 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, 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:
The very source and fount of Day
Is dash’d with wandering isles of night. 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 41:
On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade white-dashing fall. a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
(dated, transitive) To mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality.
to dash wine with water
(of hopes or dreams, transitive) To ruin; to destroy.
Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.
Arsenal's hopes of starting their Champions League campaign with an away win were dashed when substitute Ivan Perisic's superb late volley rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund. 2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1 – 1 Arsenal”, in BBC:
(transitive) To dishearten; to sadden.
Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.
(qualifier:usually with down or off, transitive) To complete hastily.
He dashed down his eggs.
She dashed off her homework.
(transitive) To draw or write quickly; jot.
"Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe. 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:
Going out the door, he grabbed a windbreaker and dashed a note to his father and left it on the entry table. 2002, Robert Andrews, “Twenty”, in A Murder of Promise, 1st edition, New York City: Putnam's, published 2002, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 181:
(dated, euphemistic, transitive) Damn (in forming oaths).
de rennen (to run short distance) · nl kribbelen (to draw quickly) · fi hutaista (to complete hastily) · fi häipyä (informal: to leave) · it saltare (to run short distance) · cs sprintovat (to run short distance) · mk на́пушти (informal: to leave) · es romper (to destroy) · gl guindar (to throw violently) · mk у́ништи (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · fr doucher (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · es lanzarse (to run short distance) · de stürzen (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · bg плисвам (to sprinkle) · fr bâcler (to complete hastily) · de spritzen (to sprinkle) · de bedrücken (to dishearten) · sv spurta (to run short distance) · de zerschlagen (to destroy) · pl ciepnąć (to throw violently) · ru разру́шить (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · cmn 沖 /冲 (to run short distance) · ru разруша́ть (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · de sausen (to run short distance) · hu rohan (to run short distance) · bg напусна (informal: to leave) · bg разбивам (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · fi singota (to throw violently) · fi roiskuttaa (to sprinkle) · de prallen (to throw violently) · ru броса́ть (to throw violently) · de bespritzen (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · ru нести́сь (to run short distance) · pl spadać (informal: to leave) · ru разбива́ть (to destroy) · nl verwoesten (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · de entmutigen (to dishearten) · ru швырну́ть (to throw violently) · fi syöksyä (to run short distance) · de herunterstürzen (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · pt frustrar (to dishearten) · bg захвърля (to throw violently) · eo sprinti (to run short distance) · pl śmignąć (to throw violently) · bg драсна (to draw quickly) · hu nekiiramodik (to run short distance) · bg драсвам (to draw quickly) · bg посипя (to sprinkle) · fi pinkaista (to run short distance) · fr se barrer (informal: to leave) · fr jeter (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · bg хвърля (to throw violently) · fi pyrähtää (to run short distance) · hu hasít (to run short distance) · ta இடாசு (to destroy) · de herunterstürzen (to complete hastily) · fi roiskauttaa (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · nl smijten (to throw violently) · pl lecieć (informal: to leave) · fi paiskata (to throw violently) · fr se ruer (to run short distance) · mi karapetapeta (to run short distance) · de schleudern (to throw violently) · de hereinstürzen (to run short distance) · bg разбия (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · bg разбия (to destroy) · bg поръсвам (to sprinkle) · fr se précipiter (to run short distance) · nl spurten (to run short distance) · bg напускам (informal: to leave) · es hacer rápidamente (to complete hastily) · de pesen (to run short distance) · bg плисна (to sprinkle) · fi lorauttaa (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · es salpicar (to sprinkle) · bg спринтирам (to run short distance) · hu sprintel (to run short distance) · nl snel afmaken (to complete hastily) · hu romba dönt (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · ru бры́згать (to sprinkle) · de rasen (to run short distance) · hu összecsap (to complete hastily) · nl wegsmijten (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · fi roiskua (to sprinkle) · ru бро́сить (to throw violently) · ru швыря́ть (to throw violently) · ru расхола́живать (to dishearten) · bg втурна се (to run short distance) · hu száguld (to run short distance) · sv sno (iväg) (to run short distance) · mk ра́збие (to destroy) · ru разби́ть (to destroy) · fi kiitää (informal: to leave) · bg нахвърля (to complete hastily) · cmn 闖 /闯 (to run short distance) · bg хвърлям (to throw violently) · de streuen (to sprinkle) · ru привести́ в уны́ние (to dishearten) · mi tātā (to destroy) · fi lannistua (to dishearten) · fi huitaista (to complete hastily) · bg посипвам (to sprinkle) · ru приводи́ть в уны́ние (to dishearten) · mi tuoma (to run short distance) · mi taitai (to destroy) · nl sprinten (to run short distance) · mk вр́ви (to run short distance) · fi pinkoa (to run short distance) · fi lannistaa (to dishearten) · bg поръся (to sprinkle) · de zerschmettern (to destroy) · bg втурвам се (to run short distance) · hu vágtázik (to run short distance) · de stricheln (to draw quickly) · bg обезкуражавам (to dishearten) · es arrojar (to throw violently) · sv störta (iväg) (to run short distance) · de sprinten (to run short distance) · fr bondir (to run short distance) · fi iskeä (to destroy) · bg захвърлям (to throw violently) · gl botar (to throw violently) · de skizzieren (to draw quickly) · ru мча́ться (to run short distance) · de zunichtemachen (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · bg разбивам (to destroy) · de spurten (to run short distance) · es romperse (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · mk обеску́ражи (to dishearten) · gl lanzar (to throw violently) · de werfen (to throw violently) · de schlagen (to destroy) · fi murskaantua (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · de zerstören (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · fi paiskata (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · ca esprintar (to run short distance) · de hinwerfen (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · es lanzar (to throw violently) · bg нахвърлям (to complete hastily) · fi sutaista (to draw quickly) · mk се вту́рна (to run short distance) · fr balancer (to throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner) · pl cisnąć (to throw violently) · fr se tirer (informal: to leave) · es frustrar (to dishearten) · fr sprinter (to run short distance) · de herunterreissen (to complete hastily) · gd leum (to run short distance) · sv rusa (to run short distance) · de hinausstürzen (to run short distance) · mk по́пари (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · fi murskata (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · fi lyödä (to destroy) · sv sprinta (to run short distance) · fi syöksähtää (to run short distance) · hu dönget (to run short distance) · de schmettern (to throw violently) · sv jaga (iväg) (to run short distance) · de flitzen (to run short distance) · de hinschleudern (to throw violently) · mk се вле́та (to run short distance) · hu meghiúsít (of hopes or dreams: to ruin) · mk спри́нтува (to run short distance) · mk фр́ли (to throw violently) · ru побры́згать (to sprinkle) · nl snel afhaspelen (to complete hastily) · ru расхолоди́ть (to dishearten) · nl gooien (to throw violently) · de düsen (to run short distance) · de auslöschen (of hopes or dreams: to ruin)