▪ I. squelch, n.
(skwɛltʃ, skwɛlʃ)
Also 8 squelsh.
[Imitative.]
1. a. A heavy crushing fall or blow acting on a soft body; the sound produced by this.
| 1620 Shelton Quix. III. iv. 25 The Stakes fail'd, and I got a good Squelch upon the Ground. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xliii. 59 Giving their Adversaries such deadly squelches as they shall never rise again. 1719 Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. Trav. Eng. 25 A Turn of the [Bull's] Horn..puts him in Danger of a damnable Squelch when he comes down. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) II. 18 His shoulders and head came with a squelch to the earth. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xix, I heard a heavy squelch and a howl. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schlm. xxi. (1858) 467, I heard a peculiar sound,—a squelch, if I may employ such a word. |
| fig. 1685 F. Spence tr. Varilla's Ho. Medicis 301 The house of Medici now seem'd humbled by so terrible a squelch, that it cou'd not..get up again. |
b. fig. A disconcerting surprise.
| 1815 Lamb Corr. 278 Just such a cold squelch as going down a plausible turning and suddenly reading ‘No thoroughfare’. |
c. A devastating argument or retort; a crushing blow. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §11/3 Something conclusive or decisive (as an argument, answer, blow, or the like),..squasher, squelch, squelcher. 1964 Pix (Australia) 4 Aug., Pix has added to its large collection of famous squelches with contributions from readers. 1977 Amer. Speech 1975 L. 155 If I use humdinger, I have to face the derisive remark of my elder son, ‘Nobody used that word since Theodore Roosevelt died’.., or the equally crushing squelch of the younger one, ‘Papa, that is not even funny.’ |
2. A thing or mass that has the appearance of having been squelched or crushed. Also fig.
| 1837 Carlyle Misc. Ess. (1888) V. 195 A mangled squelch of gore, confusion and abomination. 1849 D. G. Rossetti Let. to W. M. Rossetti 24 Sept., Your surgeon..is a wretched sneak—quite a sniggering squelch of a fellow. |
3. The sound made by a liquid when subjected to sudden or intermittent pressure.
| 1895 J. C. Snaith Dorothy Marvin xxviii, 'Twas sickening to feel the squelch of the blood at your sword point. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 476 To the expert physician the sounds are not closely alike; that of gastralgia is a squelch. |
4. Electronics. A circuit that suppresses all input signals except ones of a predetermined character; spec. in Radio, a circuit that suppresses the noise output of a receiver when the signal strength falls below a predetermined level. Freq. attrib.
| 1937 [see quieting vbl. n. 2 a]. 1945 FM & Televison Apr. 31/1 The feature of this squelch circuit is that sharp pulses of interference do not open the squelch... It has been found that a 1-microvolt signal can open the squelch, but noise pulses of considerable amplitude do not. 1950 J. K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 4) xvii. 822 A signal of 140 db (0·1 µu) is sufficient to open the squelch of a police receiver. 1959 [see muting vbl. n. b]. 1976 CB Mag. June 64/1 (Advt.), the transceiver is combined through a switchable standby circuit to interrupt the music when the adjustable squelch level is broken. 1981 Daily Tel. 5 Nov. 2 (Advt.), Ultra compact, yet has variable squelch to cut signal ‘chopping’. |
▪ II. squelch, v.
(skwɛltʃ, skwɛlʃ)
Also 7 squelche, 8–9 squelsh.
[f. as prec. Cf. quelch v.]
1. a. trans. To fall, drop, or stamp upon (something soft) with crushing or squashing force; to crush in this way.
| 1624 Middleton Game at Chess v. iii, The Fat Bishop hath so overlaid me, So squelch'd and squeezed me, I've no verjuice left in me! a 1625 Fletcher Nice Valour v. i, Oh 'twas your luck and mine to be squelch'd, Mr. 'Has stamped my very puddings into Pancakes. 1719 E. Baynard Health (1740) 30 Besides your guts, if fat, it squelches, And causes fumes, and sour belches. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1198 His left leg stood upon another dog squelched by his weight. 1850 Kingsley Alton Locke xxxvi. (1879) 377 My cousin, as he turned away, thrust the stone back with his foot, and squelched me flat. 1880 Daily Tel. 9 Dec., The smallest of the family of steam hammers will squelch it as thin as a six⁓pence at a single blow. |
| refl. 1859 Blackw. Mag. LXXXV. 302/1 Each man squelching himself..in the corner that best pleased him. |
| fig. 1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xii. xi. (1872) IV. 250 Ambitious persons often..get squelched to pieces by bringing the Twelve Labours of Hercules on Unherculean backs. |
b. fig. To squash or crush; to put down or suppress thoroughly or completely. Now chiefly U.S.
| 1864 Temperance Spectator 1 Dec. 184 We readily concede that the doctrine..has been utterly squelched by the Doctor's weighty arguments. 1872 H. W. Beecher Chr. World Pulpit I. 207/3 The time is coming when you cannot squelch a barbarian horde in Pennsylvania without having it known throughout..the world. 1878 Huxley in Life (1900) I. xxxiii. 488 It would be so nice to squelch that pompous impostor. 1890 Spectator 8 Nov., The movement for ‘reciprocity’ in Canada..will be squelched at once. 1910 Dialect Notes III. 455 Squelch, v. tr., to snub, to turn down. ‘She squelched him.’ 1936 L. C. Douglas White Banners vi. 135 An inquisitive maid-of-all-work who might try to be chummy unless promptly squelched. 1960 Wall St. Jrnl. 15 Mar. 14 Recent attempts by other domestic unions to hurtle national boundaries have been squelched. 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance xxv. 252 That'll squelch him, I assure you, and he'll be as quiet as a mouse. |
2. intr. † a. To make squelchy sounds. Obs.—1
| 1709 Brit. Apollo No. 38. 3/2 Still Coughing or Squelching,..[She] is all that is ugly and old. |
b. To fall with a squelch.
| 1755 Johnson, To Squab, v.n., to fall down plump or flat; to squelsh or squash. 1825 Britton Beauties Wilts III. 378 Squelch, to fall heavily. 1865– in dial. glossaries, etc. (Derby, Warw., Wilts.). |
c. To emit a squelch or squelches; to spout in squelches.
| 1834 J. Wilson Noctes Ambr. Wks. 1856 IV. 25 Their sodden corpses squelchin at every spang o' the flying dragons. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker v. 68 My boots began to squelch and pipe along the restaurant floors. 1905 M{supc}Carthy Dryad 263 Water was squelching and oozing and bubbling over his horse's fetlocks. |
d. To walk or tread heavily in water or wet ground, or with water in the shoes, so as to make a splashing sound.
| 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy xxiv. 254 You'd..pass all your time in squelching about soppy fields. 1851 Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. (1883) 404 He squelching along all the way, with his india-rubber shoes full of water. 1881 Blackw. Mag. July 110 In another moment [we] were squelching over the sloppy ground. |
3. trans. Electronics. = quiet v. 2 d.
| 1950 J. K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 4) xvii. 822 This voltage drop biases the first audio amplifier beyond cutoff, thus squelching the set. 1976 S9 (N.Y.) May/June 107/1 The light..then remains on (although the receiver may be squelched, it will then pick up all calls on the channel until it is reset by the firefighter). |
Hence squelched ppl. a.
| 1837 Carlyle Misc. (1840) V. 98, I behold thee..a squelched Putrefaction, here on London pavements. 1867 F. Harrison Autobiogr. Mem. (1911) I. xviii. 343 Unmistakably..the squelched rats will squeal. 1914 ‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 18 Squelched, ignored, insulted, ‘sat upon’. 1928 Sat. Even. Post 7 Jan. 20/2 Apparently squelched, she made no reply. |
▪ III. squelch, adv.
[f. as prec.]
With or as with a squelch or heavy squash.
| 1772 R. Graves Spir. Quix. (1783) III. 202 When he was got about seven or eight feet high, he made a sudden pause; and, squelch, he came down again. 1820 Glenfergus I. iv. 93 The maid lay squelch on the floor, rolled together, and blubbering and bawling hideously. 1823– in dial. glossaries (Suffolk, Nhp., Leics., Hamps., Warw., Wilts.). 1851 Borrow Lavengro lxxxviii, He lost his wind, and falling squelch on the ground, do you see, he lost the battle. |