Other forms: squashed, squashes
To squash something is to crush it flat under weight or pressure. A tomato at the bottom of the shopping bag, a wasp under a rolled-up newspaper, four of you squashed into the back seat of a small car.
The word then splits into things that have nothing to do with each other. A squash is a hard-skinned vegetable of the pumpkin family — butternut squash roasted in wedges, a fat green one on a market stall. Squash is also a fast indoor sport played with rackets in a white walled court, where the small rubber ball dies if you hit it badly. In Britain squash is a sweet fruit concentrate you dilute with water: a jug of orange squash at a children's party. And back with the verb, to squash a rumour or a plan is to stop it dead. Note the past forms are regular: squashed, squashing.
1nounsquashA hard-skinned vegetable of the pumpkin family, with firm flesh inside.
“She roasted the squash with garlic and a little chilli.”
2verbcrushTo crush something flat with weight or pressure.
“He sat on his glasses and squashed them.”
3verbpressTo press yourself or others into a space that is too small.
“The five of us squashed onto one bench.”
4verbquashTo put a stop to something, such as a rumour or a plan.
“The manager squashed the story before it reached the papers.”
5nounfastA fast racket sport played by two people in a small walled court.
“They play squash at seven every Tuesday.”
6nounsweetA sweet fruit concentrate mixed with water to make a drink (British).
“There is blackcurrant squash in the fridge for the children.”
The recorded origin here belongs to the crushing squash. It runs from Middle English squachen back through Old French esquacher to Vulgar Latin *excoāctiāre, built on Latin ex- and coāctāre, with a push from Old French escasser, 'to crush, shatter, destroy, break', and Latin quassare, 'to shatter' — the ancestors of quash. Half the work is done by the sound, which is why nothing else fits a squashed tomato so well.
Latin
ex
Vulgar Latin
*excoāctiāre
Old French
esquacher
Middle English
squachen
English, today
squash
Built from
From Middle English squachen, squatchen, from Old French esquacher, escachier, from Vulgar Latin excoāctiāre, from Latin ex + coāctāre. Probably influenced by Middle English quashen, quassen, from Old French esquasser, escasser (“to crush, shatter, destroy, break”), from Vulgar Latin exquassare, from Latin ex- + quassare (“to shatter”) (see quash).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA