different between mash vs nash

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?sh, IPA^(key): /mæ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

From Middle English mash, from Old English m?s?-, m?s?-, m?x-, from Proto-Germanic *maiskaz, *maisk? (“mixture, mash”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey?-, *mey?- (“to mix”). Akin to German Meisch, Maische (“mash”), (compare meischen, maischen (“to mash, wash”)), Swedish mäsk (“mash”), and to Old English miscian (“to mix”). See mix.

Noun

mash (countable and uncountable, plural mashes)

1. (uncountable) A mass of mixed ingredients reduced to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure; a mass of anything in a soft pulpy state.
2. (brewing) Ground or bruised malt, or meal of rye, wheat, corn, or other grain (or a mixture of malt and meal) steeped and stirred in hot water for making the wort.
3. Mashed potatoes.
4. A mixture of meal or bran and water fed to animals.
5. (obsolete) A mess; trouble.

   • For your vows and oaths, Or I doubt mainly, I shall be i' the mash " too

6. (countable, MLE, slang) A gun.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:firearm

Derived terms

• bangers and mash
• instant mash
• mash tun
• mash vat
• monster mash

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English mashen, maschen, meshen, from Old English *m?s?an, *m?s?an, from Proto-Germanic *maiskijan?. Cognate with German maischen. Compare also Middle Low German meskewert, m?schewert (“beerwort”).

Verb

mash (third-person singular simple present mashes, present participle mashing, simple past and past participle mashed)

1. (transitive) To convert into a mash; to reduce to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure

   We had fun mashing apples in a mill.

   The potatoes need to be mashed.

2. (transitive) In brewing, to convert (for example malt, or malt and meal) into the mash which makes wort.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To press down hard (on).

   to mash on a bicycle pedal

4. (transitive, Southern US, informal) To press. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
5. (transitive, Britain, chiefly Northern England) To prepare a cup of tea in a teapot; to brew (tea).
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 10

     He took the kettle off the fire and mashed the tea.

6. (intransitive, archaic) To act violently.

Derived terms

• mashing
• mashed potato, mashed potatoes
• mashup

Translations

Etymology 3

See mesh.

Noun

mash (plural mashes)

1. (obsolete) A mesh.

Etymology 4

Either by analogy with mash (“to press, to soften”), or more likely from Romani masha (“a fascinator, an enticer”), mashdva (“fascination, enticement”). Originally used in theater, and recorded in US in 1870s. Either originally used as mash, or a backformation from masher, from masha. Leland writes of the etymology:

It was introduced by the well-known gypsy family of actors, C., among whom Romany was habitually spoken. The word “masher” or “mash” means in that tongue to allure, delude, or entice. It was doubtless much aided in its popularity by its quasi-identity with the English word. But there can be no doubt as to the gypsy origin of “mash” as used on the stage. I am indebted for this information to the late well-known impresario [Albert Marshall] Palmer of New York, and I made a note of it years before the term had become at all popular.

Verb

mash (third-person singular simple present mashes, present participle mashing, simple past and past participle mashed)

1. to flirt, to make eyes, to make romantic advances

Noun

mash (plural mashes)

1. (obsolete) an infatuation, a crush, a fancy
2. (obsolete) a dandy, a masher
3. (obsolete) the object of one’s affections (either sex)

Derived terms

• mash note
• masher

Translations

References

Anagrams

• AMHS, HMAS, HSAM, Hams, MHAs, MSHA, Mahs, SAHM, Sahm, Sham, hams, sham

English

Etymology 1

Dialectal variant of gnash.

Adjective

nash (comparative more nash, superlative most nash)

1. (Britain, dialect) firm; stiff; hard
2. (Britain, dialect) chilly

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Perhaps from Romani.

Verb

nash (third-person singular simple present nashes, present participle nashing, simple past and past participle nashed)

1. (Edinburgh, dialect) to hurry; run; get away

Anagrams

• HANS, HNAs, Hans, Shan, shan

Kalasha

Verb

nash

1. kill