Wiktionary

dash

See also: Dash

English

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Etymology

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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

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  • IPA(key): /dæʃ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æʃ

Noun

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dash (plural dashes)

  1. (typography) Any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar).
    Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:dash
    Hypernyms: see Thesaurus:punctuation mark
    1. (computing) A hyphen or minus sign.
  2. (by extension) The longer of the two symbols of Morse code.
  3. A short run, flight.
    Synonyms: rush, sprint
    When the feds came they did the dash.
  4. A rushing or violent onset.
    Synonyms: spurt, surge, thrust
    • 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:
  5. Violent strike; a whack.
    Synonyms: blow, knock, thwack
    • 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
  6. 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.
  7. (figurative, by extension) A slight admixture.
    Synonyms: element, hint, touch
    There is a dash of craziness in his personality.
  8. Ostentatious vigor.
    Synonyms: energy, vim, vitality
    Aren't we full of dash this morning?
  9. (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia) A bribe or gratuity; a gift.
    Synonyms: douceur, sweetener; see also Thesaurus:bribe, Thesaurus:gift
    • 1992, George Billy Nii Ayittey, Africa Betrayed, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 44:
      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.
    • 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."
    • 2008, Lizzie Williams, updated by Mark Shenley, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide, published 2012, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 109:
      The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars.
  10. (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?
  11. Short for dashboard.
    Synonyms: control panel, instrument panel
    1. (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.

Derived terms

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other terms derived from the noun (unsorted)

Translations

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See also

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Punctuation

Verb

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dash (third-person singular simple present dashes, present participle dashing, simple past and past participle dashed)

  1. (intransitive) To run quickly or for a short distance.
    Synonyms: bolt, rush, sprint
    He dashed across the field.
    • 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.
  2. (intransitive, informal) To leave or depart.
    Synonyms: go, take off; see also Thesaurus:leave
    I have to dash now. See you soon.
  3. (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.
  4. (transitive) To throw violently.
    Synonyms: chuck, feck, fling, sling
    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], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XV, 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
  5. (transitive, intransitive, sometimes figurative) To sprinkle; to splatter.
    Synonyms: dust, powder, sparge, scatter, speckle, strew
  6. (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
  7. (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.
    • 2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1 – 1 Arsenal”, in BBC‎[2]:
      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.
  8. (transitive) To dishearten; to sadden.
    Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.
  9. (transitive, usually with down or off) To complete hastily.
    He dashed down his eggs.
    She dashed off her homework.
  10. (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.
    • 2002, Robert Andrews, “Twenty”, in A Murder of Promise, 1st edition, New York City: Putnam's, published 2002, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 181:
      Going out the door, he grabbed a windbreaker and dashed a note to his father and left it on the entry table.
  11. (transitive, dated, euphemistic) Damn (in forming oaths).
    Synonyms: darn, eff, frig
    Dash his impudence! Who is that scoundrel?

Derived terms

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Translations

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Interjection

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dash

  1. (euphemistic) Damn!
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dammit

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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Albanian

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Etymology

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Potentially from Early Proto-Albanian *dauša, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰows-o-s (compare English deer, Lithuanian daũsos (“upper air; heaven”)).[1]

Noun

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dash m (plural desh, definite dashi, definite plural deshtë)

  1. ram (male sheep)

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (2000) A concise historical grammar of the Albanian language: reconstruction of Proto-Albanian‎[1], Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 14

Eastern Ojibwa

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Adverb

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dash

  1. so, and

References

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Jerry Randolph Valentine (2001) Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar, University of Toronto, page 143

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From English dash.

Noun

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dash m (definite singular dashen, indefinite plural dasher, definite plural dashene)

  1. a dash (small amount)
  2. short for dashbord.

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From English dash.

Noun

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dash m (definite singular dashen, indefinite plural dashar, definite plural dashane)

  1. a dash (small amount)
  2. short for dashbord.

References

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Ojibwe

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adverb

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dash

  1. and, and then, then
    Bijiinag ninga-ozhi'aa a'aw bakwezhigan. Mii dash onadinag.
    I'll make the bread later and then knead it.
  2. but

Usage notes

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dash comes in the second position in a clause, indicating that one thing happened after another. It can also have a contrastive meaning and then may be translated with but.

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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