dash
pronunciation
How to pronounce dash in British English:
UK [dæʃ]
How to pronounce dash in American English:
US [dæʃ]
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- Noun:
- distinctive and stylish elegance
- a quick run
- a footrace run at top speed
- a punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a compound word or between the syllables of a word when the word is divided at the end of a line of text
- the longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code
- the act of moving with great haste
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- Verb:
- run or move very quickly or hastily
- break into pieces, as by striking or knocking over
- hurl or thrust violently
- destroy or break
- cause to lose courage
- add an enlivening or altering element to
Word Origin
- dash
- dash: [13] Dash is probably of Scandinavian origin – Danish daske ‘beat’ has been compared – but whether it was a borrowing or a home- grown word, it was no doubt formed in imitation of rapid impulsive violent movement. Its original sense in English was ‘hit, smash’ (now rather eclipsed, put preserved in such phrases as ‘dash someone’s hopes’). ‘Move quickly and violently’ followed in the 14th century, and the noun sense ‘stroke of a pen’ in the 16th century (this probably gave rise to the use of the word as a euphemism for damned, from the replacement of that word in print with a dash).
- dash (v.)
- c. 1300, probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish daska, Danish daske "to beat, strike"), somehow imitative. The oldest sense is that in dash to pieces and dashed hopes. Intransitive meaning "move quickly" appeared c. 1300, that of "to write hurriedly" is 1726. Related: Dashed; dashing.
- dash (n.)
- late 14c., from dash (v.). Sporting sense is from 1881, originally "race run in one heat."
Example
- 1. These were the years of dash and daring .
- 2. The growing feeling in seoul is that north korea may be trying to dash across the nuclear finishing line .
- 3. But the dash for gas has reduced american emissions , since gas is cleaner than coal .
- 4. As the teachers group the boys together for the weekly 100 yard dash , I decide it 's time for an outsider to win for once .
- 5. She was making a dash for the boy , when she saw something on the ground crawling towards her feet - a dreadful dark object - a tortoise .