dash

plural dashes

1. countableuncountablemediaAny of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar).
   1. countableuncountablecomputingA hyphen or minus sign.
2. broadlycountableuncountableThe longer of the two symbols of Morse code.
3. countableuncountableA short run, flight.

   When the feds came they did the dash.

   Synonyms: rush, sprint

4. countableuncountableA 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

   Synonyms: spurt, surge, thrust

5. countableuncountableViolent 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

   Synonyms: blow, knock, thwack

6. countableuncountableA small quantity of a liquid substance etc.; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.

   Add a dash of vinegar.

   Synonyms: drop, skoosh, soupçon, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught

7. broadlycountablefigurativelyuncountableA slight admixture.

   There is a dash of craziness in his personality.

   Synonyms: element, hint, touch

8. uncountableOstentatious vigor.

   Aren't we full of dash this morning?

   Synonyms: energy, vim, vitality

9. NigeriacountableuncountableGhana; Liberia; Ghana; LiberiaA bribe or gratuity; a gift.

   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

   2 more examples

   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

   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

   Synonyms: douceur, sweetener, backhander, bribe, bung, payoff, coffee money, cold drink money

10. countabledatedeuphemisticuncountableA 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

    1 more example

    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

    Synonyms: beep, blankety-blank

11. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis 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

    Synonyms: control panel, instrument panel

    1. InternetcountableinformaluncountableThe dashboard of a social media user.

       -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

       2 more examples

       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

       “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

       Synonyms: control panel, instrument panel, timeline, feed, graphical user interface

12. IndiaUKcountableuncountableA prime symbol.

present singular third person dashes · participle present dashing · participle past dashed · past dashed

1. intransitiveTo run quickly or for a short distance.

   He dashed across the field.

   1 more example

   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

   Synonyms: bolt, rush, sprint

2. informalintransitiveTo leave or depart.

   I have to dash now. See you soon.

   Synonyms: go, take off, 23 skidoo, beat it, bug off, remove, egress, bugger off

3. transitiveTo destroy by striking (against).

   He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.

   3 more examples

   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

   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

   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

   Synonyms: beat, whack, bang, baste, batter, beat, belabor, blow

4. transitiveTo throw violently.

   The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.

   3 more examples

   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

   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

   Synonyms: chuck, feck, fling, sling, bung, cast, chuck, chunk

5. ambitransitivefigurativelysometimesTo sprinkle; to splatter.

   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

   2 more examples

   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

   [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

   Synonyms: dust, powder, sparge, scatter, speckle, strew

6. datedtransitiveTo mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality.

   to dash wine with water

   Synonyms: adulter, corrupt, debase, pollute, sophisticate, abase, adulter, adulterate

7. transitiveTo ruin; to destroy.

   Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.

   1 more example

   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

   Synonyms: snuff, wreck, annihilate, bag, baptize, bereave of life, blight, bring down

8. transitiveTo dishearten; to sadden.

   Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.

   Synonyms: deject, depress, aggrieve, attrist, begloom, begrieve, besorrow, grieve

9. transitiveusually with down or offTo complete hastily.

   He dashed down his eggs.

   1 more example

   She dashed off her homework.

10. transitiveTo draw or write quickly; jot.

    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

    1 more example

    "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

11. datedeuphemistictransitiveDamn (in forming oaths).

    Dash his impudence! Who is that scoundrel?

    Synonyms: darn, eff, frig

1. euphemisticDamn!

   Synonyms: 4uck, ay, chihuahua, blast, bugger, bummer, byrlady, consarn it

1. A topographic surname.
2. rareA male given name transferred from the surname.

1. abbreviationacronymweb development; video; web development; videoAcronym of Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP.
2. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.