squashing Definition

squash¹
verb squashes, squashed, squashing

1. To crush or flatten by pressing or squeezing.

Thesaurus: press, compress, flatten, crush; Antonym: elongate, stretch.
tr & intr
2. To force someone or something into a confined space.

Example: managed to squash all the washing into one bag
3. To suppress or put down (eg a rebellion).

Thesaurus: annihilate, suppress, quell, quash, humiliate.
4. To force someone into silence with a cutting reply.

noun squashes

1. A concentrated fruit syrup, or a drink made by diluting this.
2. A crushed or crowded state.
3a. squash rackets;
3b. squash tennis.
4a. An act or the process of squashing something;
4b. The sound of something being squashed.

Derivative: squashable
adj

Etymology: 17c: from French esquasser to crush.