mush

See also: Mush and MUSH

English

Etymology 1

Probably a variant of mash, or from a dialectal variant of Middle English mos (“mush, pulp, porridge”); compare Middle English appelmos (“applesauce”)}}, from Old English mōs (“food, victuals, porridge, mush”), from Proto-Germanic *mōsą (“porridge, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“wet, fat, dripping”). Cognate with Scots moosh (“mush”), Dutch moes (“pulp, mush, porridge”), German Mus (“jam, puree, mush”), Swedish mos (“pulp, mash, mush”). See also moose.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) enPR: mŭsh, IPA(key): /mʌʃ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mʊʃ/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
    ,
    Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃ
  • Rhymes: -ʊʃ

Noun

mush (countable and uncountable, plural mushes)

  1. A somewhat liquid mess, often of food; a soft or semisolid substance.
    • 1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom Chapter 1
      His food is of the coarsest kind, consisting for the most part of cornmeal mush, which often finds its way from the wooden tray to his mouth in an oyster shell.
  2. (radio) A mixture of noise produced by the harmonics of continuous-wave stations.

Verb

mush (third-person singular simple present mushes, present participle mushing, simple past and past participle mushed)

  1. To squish so as to break into smaller pieces or to combine with something else.
    He mushed the ingredients together.
Translations

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

From Old High German muos and Goidelic mus (“a pap”) or muss (“a porridge”), or any thick preparation of fruit.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) enPR: mŭsh, IPA(key): /mʌʃ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
    ,
    Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Noun

mush (uncountable)

  1. A food comprising cracked or rolled grains cooked in water or milk; porridge.
  2. (rural USA) Cornmeal cooked in water and served as a porridge or as a thick sidedish like grits or mashed potatoes.
Translations

Etymology 3

Believed to be a contraction of mush on, in turn a corruption of French marchons!, the cry of the voyageurs and coureurs de bois to their dogs.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) enPR: mŭsh, IPA(key): /mʌʃ/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
    ,
    Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Interjection

mush

  1. A directive given (usually to dogs or a horse) to start moving, or to move faster.
    When the lone cowboy saw the Indians, he yelled mush, cha, giddyup!
Translations

Noun

mush (plural mushes)

  1. A walk, especially across the snow with dogs.

Verb

mush (third-person singular simple present mushes, present participle mushing, simple past and past participle mushed)

  1. (intransitive) To walk, especially across the snow with dogs.
  2. (transitive) To drive dogs, usually pulling a sled, across the snow.
    • 1910, Jack London, Burning Daylight, part 1 chapter 4:
      Together the two men loaded and lashed the sled. They warmed their hands for the last time, pulled on their mittens, and mushed the dogs over the bank and down to the river-trail.

Etymology 4

Simple contraction of mushroom.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) enPR: mŭsh, IPA(key): /mʌʃ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
    ,
    Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Noun

mush (plural mushes)

  1. (Quebec, slang) magic mushrooms
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 5

From Angloromani mush (“man”), from Romani mursh, from Sanskrit मनुष्य (manuṣya, “human being, man”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: mo͝osh, IPA(key): /mʊʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ʊʃ

Noun

mush (plural mushes)

  1. (British slang, chiefly Southern England) A form of address to a man.
    • "'Oy, mush! Get out of it!'
      That's what we'd say
      Barging the locals
      Out of the way"
      — MAUREEN AND DOREEN AND NOREEN AND ME, Peculiar Poems,
    • "When I'm around it's not uncommon for someone to call me and say :'Oy mush, get your bum over here and give us a hand.'" — THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING: In Which King Arthur Uther Pendragon Grants An Interview
  2. (British slang, chiefly Northern England, Australia) The face
    • "My ugly mush finally found its way onto the www, but not in the manner to which I deserved." —
    • 2002:"I grew my face fungus to cover up an ugly mush." —
    • "and your bird has an ugly mush" —
Synonyms
  • (form of address to a man): mate (UK), pal (especially US)
  • (the face): mug
Translations

References

Etymology 6

Compare French moucheter (“to cut with small cuts”).

Verb

mush (third-person singular simple present mushes, present participle mushing, simple past and past participle mushed)

  1. (transitive) To notch, cut, or indent (cloth, etc.) with a stamp.

Anagrams

Angloromani

Etymology

From Romani mursh, from Sanskrit मनुष्य (manuṣya, “human being, man”).

Noun

mush

  1. man

Descendants

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