From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
squash
n 1: any of numerous annual trailing plants of the genus
Cucurbita grown for their fleshy edible fruits [syn:
squash, squash vine]
2: edible fruit of a squash plant; eaten as a vegetable
3: a game played in an enclosed court by two or four players who
strike the ball with long-handled rackets [syn: squash,
squash racquets, squash rackets]
v 1: to compress with violence, out of natural shape or
condition; "crush an aluminum can"; "squeeze a lemon" [syn:
squash, crush, squelch, mash, squeeze]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Squash \Squash\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Squashed (skw[o^]sht); p.
pr. & vb. n. Squashing.] [OE. squachen, OF. escachier,
esquachier, to squash, to crush, F. ['e]cacher, perhaps from
(assumed) LL. excoacticare, fr. L. ex + coactare to
constrain, from cogere, coactum, to compel. Cf. Cogent,
Squat, v. i.]
To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Squash \Squash\, n.
1. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe
pod of pease.
[1913 Webster]
Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a
boy; as a squash is before 't is a peascod. --Shak.
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2. Hence, something unripe or soft; -- used in contempt.
"This squash, this gentleman." --Shak.
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3. A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft
bodies. --Arbuthnot.
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My fall was stopped by a terrible squash. --Swift.
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4. A game much like rackets, played in a walled court with
soft rubber balls and bats like tennis rackets; -- called
also squash rackets.
[PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Squash \Squash\ (skw[o^]sh), n. [Cf. Musquash.] (Zool.)
An American animal allied to the weasel. [Obs.] --Goldsmith.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Squash \Squash\, n. [Massachusetts Indian asq, pl. asquash, raw,
green, immature, applied to fruit and vegetables which were
used when green, or without cooking; askutasquash vine
apple.] (Bot.)
A plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd
kind.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The species are much confused. The long-neck squash is
called Cucurbita verrucosa, the Barbary or China
squash, Cucurbita moschata, and the great winter
squash, Cucurbita maxima, but the distinctions are
not clear.
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Squash beetle (Zool.), a small American beetle ({Diabrotica
vittata}, syn. Galeruca vittata) which is often abundant
and very injurious to the leaves of squash, cucumber, etc.
It is striped with yellow and black. The name is applied
also to other allied species.
Squash bug (Zool.), a large black American hemipterous
insect (Coreus tristis syn. Anasa tristis) injurious
to squash vines.
[1913 Webster]