▪ I. † ˈsquashy, n. Obs.—1
[Cf. squash n.1 1.]
(See quot.)
| 1828 Life Planter Jamaica 211 A very small pea denominated by the negroes, okra, a kind of what is called squashies. |
▪ II. squashy, a.
(ˈskwɒʃɪ)
[f. squash v.1 or n.1]
1. Of fruit, etc.: Having a soft or pulpy consistency; lacking in firmness.
| 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 130 Having gone near Fifty Miles without eating more than a few squashy Figs. Ibid. 182 The Fruit..squashy, of a better Relish than Smell. 1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh. 478 The Ear [of wheat] was seemingly full and good; but it prov'd to be squashy, and had no Kernel. 1837 Hook Jack Brag xx, A squashy French pie, made by a Cowes confectioner. 1847 Halliw., Squashy, soft, pulpy, watery. Warw[ick]. 1883 E. J. Worboise Sissie xix, Squashy roly-poly pudding, with all the jam boiled out, and the water boiled in. |
| fig. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xv, Them young gells are like th' unripe grain; they'll make good meal by-and-by, but they're squashy as yet. |
2. Of ground, etc.: Soft with, full of, water; soaking, marshy.
| 1751 England's Gazetteer s.v. Daventry, The banks in it resemble those of ponds and canals, with a watry squashy ground between them. 1818 Keats Lett. Wks. 1889 III. 163, I was damped by slipping one leg into a squashy hole. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 335 A squashy knowe in an undrained quagmire. 1889 Longman's Mag. Aug. 379 Away we go again, floundering heavily through the squashy ground. |
| transf. 1877 W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy (1892) 302 We had a squashy walk over a pathless and furzy common. |
3. Of the nature of a squash or squashing.
| 1865 E. Burritt Walk to Land's End 284 That child..comes down..in a squashy concussion with its forehead against the floor. 1873 Spectator 23 Aug. 1069 Alongside of you comes up an oozy, squashy sound of the advancing tide. |
4. Having a squashed or flattened look.
| 1895 Zangwill Master ii. iv, Matt pointed out that the eyes were wrong, that pupils should be round, not squashy. |