Wiktionary

gash

See also: Gash

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɡæʃ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æʃ

Etymology 1

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Alteration of older garsh, from Middle English garsen, from Old French garser, jarsier (Modern French gercer), from Vulgar Latin *charaxāre, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “engraver”).

Alternative forms

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Noun

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gash (countable and uncountable, plural gashes)

  1. A deep cut.
    Unwittingly I slashed a gushing gash in my hand with a switchblade.
    • 1983 April 23, Sue Hyde, “Castro Bashers Jailed”, in Gay Community News, page 2:
      The victim of the attack, Russell Mills, suffered a head gash, a broken knee cap and a broken wrist.
    • 2006, New York Times, “Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers”, [1]:
      Vowing that he was “never going to forget the lessons of that day,” President Bush paid tribute last night to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, laying wreaths at ground zero, attending a prayer service at St. Paul’s Chapel and making a surprise stop at a firehouse and a memorial museum overlooking the vast gash in the ground where the twin towers once stood.
  2. (slang, vulgar) A vulva.
  3. (slang, uncountable, offensive, derogatory) A woman.
    • 1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 19, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan:
      "Will you bastards quit singing the blues? You're young, and there's plenty of gash in the world, and the supply of moon goes on forever," Simonsky said.
  4. (slang, British Royal Navy) A spare kit.
  5. (slang, British Royal Navy, Antarctica) Rubbish.
    • 1960, David Brunt, The Royal Society International Geophysical Year Antarctic Expedition, page 17:
      […] each man was on 'gash duty' about once in eighteen days.
    • 2024, Lewis Juckes, Antarctic Basalt, page 126:
      After scradge and another mug of tea I washed up, tipping the slops into the gash tin […]
  6. (slang) Rubbish on board an aircraft.
  7. (slang) Unused film or sound during film editing.
  8. (slang) Poor-quality beer, usually watered down.
Translations
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Adjective

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gash (comparative more gash, superlative most gash)

  1. (slang) Of poor quality; makeshift; improvised; temporary; substituted.

Verb

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gash (third-person singular simple present gashes, present participle gashing, simple past and past participle gashed)

  1. To make a deep, long cut; to slash.
    My leg got gashed.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From ghastful, by association with gash.

Adjective

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gash (comparative more gash, superlative most gash)

  1. (UK, Scotland, dialect) ghastly; hideous
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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