bash

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4][5] One view, found in the OED and Barnhart, takes it from a Scandinavian source, comparing Swedish basa (“to baste, whip, flog”) and Danish baske (“to beat, strike, cudgel”);^[2][3] Etymonline suggests an Old Norse *baska (“to strike”).^[6] The other view treats it as imitative, with the b- of beat and bang and the ending of dash, lash and smash;^[2][3][7] the Oxford Dictionary of English and Hoad suggest a blend of bang with smash or dash.^[8][7] Klein calls it imitative and compares the Scandinavian verbs,^[9] Etymonline allows that the whole group may have arisen independently,^[6] and Dictionary.com suggests an alteration of pash, to strike.^[10] The OED notes that the verb was chiefly northern.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a hen, to beat its wings in the dust: a1642, in Henry Best's farming books.^[2] Barnhart dates the verb, "to smash", to 1641,^[3] and Merriam-Webster gives 1744 for the sense of striking violently.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to strike with a heavy blow that dents or smashes a surface.^[2] The noun, a heavy blow, appears first in Scots in 1805,^[2][11] and the English Dialect Dictionary records it across Scotland and the north of England, as well as a Worcestershire use of the verb for rain beating plants down.^[12] From on the bash, "on a drinking spree" (1901), came the sense of a lively party, first in American slang;^[6][2] the meaning "an attempt", as in have a bash, is recorded by 1945.^[6] The figurative sense "to attack in words" dates from 1948,^[6] and dictionaries now give it for harsh public criticism.^[13][5] In underworld slang a bash was a robbery, such as a smash-and-grab raid (1935), and on the bash also meant working as a street prostitute (1946).^[14]

Timeline

• 1641 – to smash, according to Barnhart;^[3] a1642 in the OED, of a hen beating her wings.^[2]
• 1790 – to strike so as to dent or smash.^[2]
• 1805 – as a noun, a heavy blow, first in Scots.^[2][12]
• 1833 – bash at, to strike out at.^[2]
• 1901 – on the bash, on a spree, which led to the sense of a party.^[6][2]
• 1935 – in underworld slang, a robbery or raid.^[14]
• 1945 – an attempt.^[6]
• 1948 – to criticise harshly.^[6]
• 1950 – bash on, to persevere regardless.^[2]
• 1954 – bash up, to beat someone up.^[2]
• 1990 – a makeshift shelter, shortened from basher.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To strike violently or hard; to smash or dent with a blow.
2. To crash or collide into something.
3. To criticize harshly, especially in public.
4. (British) bash on: to keep going regardless of difficulties.

Noun

1. A heavy blow.
2. (informal) A lively party or celebration.
3. (chiefly British, informal) An attempt, as in have a bash at.
4. A makeshift shelter, especially one put up by a homeless person.

Word family

• basher

Related words

• bang
• smash
• dash
• lash
• abash
• bashful

Usage notes

An older verb bash, an aphetic form of abash, meant to dismay or to be ashamed (c1375–1610);^[2] it survived only in dialect.^[13] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to be ashamed", quoting Spenser,^[15] and the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Scotland and the Midlands, as in Burns (1787), with a Lancashire adjective bash meaning shy.^[12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.