dash

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.

• IPA^(key): /dæʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃ

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

    • 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 […] .

    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.

• dashing
• (typography): em dash, en dash, mutton dash, nine-dash line, nut dash, oblique dash, quotation dash, swung dash, wave dash, wedge-and-dash
• (dashboard): dashcam, dash cam

Punctuation

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.

   • 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.

4. (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], 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

   • 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], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXIV, 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.

     The spelling has been modernized.

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?

dash

1. (euphemistic) Damn!

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dammit

• dash it

• hyphen
• minus sign

• ASDH, dhas, SAHD, aSDH, shad, Shad, Sadh, dahs, ADHs

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

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

1. ram (male sheep)

• Dash

dash

1. so, and

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

From English dash.

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

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

• “dash” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From English dash.

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

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

• “dash” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• idash
• -sh

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʃ/

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

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.

• aaniin dash (“why?”)
• mii dash (“and then”)

• aanawi (“although, but”)
• apii (“then”)
• gaye (“as for, also”)
• miinawaa (“and again”)

• The Ojibwe People's Dictionary https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/dash-adv-conj