squench, v. Now dial.
Also 6 sqwenche, 9 squinch.
[f. quench v. with prosthetic s-.]
1. trans. To extinguish, put out (a fire, etc.). Also absol.
| 1535 Layton in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 165 The gret dynyng chambre..was sodenly fierede by sum fier⁓bronde... Asson as I hade sett men to sqwenche and to labor, I went into the Churche. 1541 Paynell Catiline vii. 11 Rather wyll a womanne squenche flame in a burnynge mouthe than kepe counsayle. 1600 1st Pt. Contention G 2 b, London bridge is a fire. Runne to Billingsgate, and fetch pitch and flaxe and squench [1619 quench] it. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 152 One of the Factors..was blown up by a Cartrige of Pow[d]er, and squenched his Cloathes a-flame in the Ocean. 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words, Squench, to quench—fire or thirst. 1889 Tennyson Owd Roä lix, I'll coom an' I'll squench the light. |
2. To suppress, put an end to; to quell or stifle. rare.
| 1577 Grange Golden Aphrod. M iv b, Our sorrowes are squenched, with pleasaunt delight. 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xv. xcvi. 384 Babel is falne, Vr-Caldick squencht, Delphos in no request. c 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. i, They'l flea him, and make Church Buckets on's skin to squench rebellion. 1865 Punch 20 May 200/2 Mr. Newdegate had a plan, whereof not much need be said, as it was squenched by 126 to 42. 1923 U. L. Silberrad Let. Jean Armiter iv. 100 You are not easily squenching Art, with a capital A, when it is once fairly talking. |
3. To satisfy (the appetite, etc.); to slake (one's thirst).
| 1598 T. Bastard Chrestoleros (1880) 53 Whome all the worlde which late they stood vpon Could not content nor squench their appetites. 1803 M. Charlton Wife & Mistress IV. 50 Forbidding her a dish of tea to squinch her thirst. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop lviii, I wouldn't have taken much..—only enough to squench my hunger. 1876– in various dial. glossaries. |
4. To slake (lime).
| 1643 J. Steer tr. Exp. Chyrurg. vi. 24 Water, wherein Lime hath been squenched, is good for the same purpose. |
5. intr. To become extinguished.
| 1643 J. Steer tr. Exp. Chyrurg. v. 14 Coals doe quickly squench if they are scattered about. |
Hence ˈsquencher, that which quenches.
| 1871 Black in W. Reid Biogr. (1902) iii. 95 If I had merely taken a squencher at Simpson's in Oxford Street. 1894 Heslop Northumberland Gloss. 682 Squinsher, an extinguisher for a candle. |