squelch

UK/ˈskwɛlt͡ʃ/US/ˈskwɛlt͡ʃ/

verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,551 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: squelching, squelched, squelches

To squelch is to make the wet sucking sound of mud underfoot. Each step pulls the boot back a little.

The word is imitative, and it names the sound as much as the action, so mud squelches and so do wet socks. It takes through or across. As a noun a squelch is one such sound. American English has a separate sense meaning to suppress something firmly, as in squelching a rumour, which British English usually renders as squash. Sound engineering has a technical squelch control that cuts background hiss.

Definitions of squelch

1verbsquelchTo make a wet sucking sound, as feet do in mud.C1
“They squelched across the field in the rain.”

Where it comes from

unknown. Perhaps a squash and quell and quench. Compare also English squolsh, English squoosh.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Sounds & Noises

First appears in chapter 13 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

squelch in the wild

If a squelch circuit is operating, the receiver attack-time delay includes the time for the receiver to break squelch.
Attack-time delay
In telecommunications, squelch is a circuit function that acts to suppress the audio (or video) output of a receiver in the absence of a strong input signal.
Squelch
Essentially, squelch is a specialized type of noise gate designed to suppress weak signals.
Squelch
In a conventional, analog two-way radio system, a standard radio has noise squelch or carrier squelch, which allows a radio to receive all transmissions.
Selective calling
A radio with carrier squelch is unlocked and will let any signal in.
Selective calling

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

squelchy

← Vocabulary