squelch
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Unknown. Perhaps a blend of squash + quell + quench. Compare also English squolsh, English squoosh.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK, General American) IPA(key): /ˈskwɛlt͡ʃ/
- Rhymes: -ɛltʃ
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Verb
[edit]squelch (third-person singular simple present squelches, present participle squelching, simple past and past participle squelched)
- (transitive, US) To halt, stop, eliminate, stamp out, or put down, often suddenly or by force.
- Synonym: quash
- Even the king's announcement could not squelch the rumors.
- c. 1615–1616, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, “The Nice Valour, or, The Passionate Mad-man”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i:
- Oh 'twas your luck and mine to be squelched.
- 1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
- If you deceive us you will be squelched.
- 1982 December 11, Frances Russell, “Economic performance buoys Pawley’s position”, in The Vancouver Sun (The Weekend Sun), Vancouver, BC, page A6:
- The party’s dominant right wing squelched not only Sherman’s hopes for an early convention, but may have also put the MLA out of contention for the leadership.
- (transitive, radio technology) To suppress the unwanted hiss or static between received transmissions by adjusting a threshold level for signal strength.
- (intransitive, UK) To make a sucking, splashing noise as when walking on muddy ground.
- The mud squelched underfoot; it had been raining all night.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- [After they both fell into the lake.] Reaching the mainland some moments later and squelching back to the house, accompanied by Bobbie, like a couple of Napoleons squelching back from Moscow, [...]
- (intransitive, UK) To walk or step through a substance such as mud.
- The mud was thick and sticky underfoot, but we squelched through it nonetheless.