Dash

How to spell dash

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce dash

What does dash mean?

1. verbTo run or move somewhere very quickly.
2. nounA small quantity of something, especially a flavouring added to food or drink.
3. nounA short horizontal line used in writing to mark a pause or break.
4. verbTo throw or strike something violently against a surface.

Dash in a sentence

• verb

  They need to dash to the station before the train leaves.

• noun

  The recipe calls for a dash of salt and a squeeze of lemon.

• noun

  The editor told me to replace the comma with a dash for emphasis.

• verb

  The storm could dash the small boat against the rocks.

• verb

  She had to dash across the car park in the rain.

• noun

  He added a dash of milk to his coffee.

Where does dash come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Dash first appears in Middle English around the 1300s, most likely as an imitative word that echoed the sharp sound of a sudden blow or a thing striking a surface. It is probably related to the Old Norse element seen in words for striking and beating, though scholars treat its exact lineage as uncertain. The earliest recorded meaning was violent: to dash something was to smash it or hurl it down with force, a sense still alive in phrases like dashed to pieces. From that idea of sudden, forceful movement grew the familiar sense of moving quickly, as well as the figurative dash of someone's hopes. The noun meaning a small splash or pinch of an ingredient, and the punctuation mark called a dash, both developed later from the same notion of a quick, brief stroke. Because the word is short, phonetic, and entirely regular, the spelling has never drifted.

How the word is built

• dash (a single Middle English root; no prefix or suffix)