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stash

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is of unknown origin.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Etymonline suggests that it was perhaps prompted by stow and cache,[9] and Dictionary.com takes it as a blend of stow and cache;[10] Weekley thought it was perhaps coined on stow and squash,[11] and Green's Dictionary of Slang suggests stop, stow or squash combined with French cacher (“to hide”).[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To stop, put an end to or desist from something: 1794, in the Sessions Papers ("Miller, it is, stash, I am satisfied").[2][6][12][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense "to conceal, put away for later" followed in 1797, in Potter's New Dictionary of Cant and Flash, as criminals' slang;[2][9][6] the OED notes that the word was revived in modern use in the United States.[2] The older sense survived in phrases such as stash it!, stop it, and stash the glim, put out the light,[2][12] and in the dialects of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Middlesex, Essex, Kent, the Isle of Wight and Cornwall.[13] In Australia to stash could mean to leave a place (1888).[12][13] The noun, a thing or collection of things stashed away, appears in 1914 in Jackson and Hellyer's Vocabulary of Criminal Slang;[2][9][6][12] it meant a hiding place or hideout from 1927 and a supply of drugs from 1942,[2][9] and since 1981 also a crafter's hoard of fabric, yarn and other supplies.[2]

Timeline

  • 1794 – to stop, desist from.[2][6]
  • 1797 – to conceal, put away, in criminals' slang.[2][9]
  • 1888 – Australian, to leave a place.[12]
  • 1914 – noun, something hidden away, a hoard.[2][6]
  • 1927 – noun, a hiding place, a hideout.[2]
  • 1942 – noun, a cache or supply of drugs.[2][9]
  • 1981 – noun, a collection of craft supplies.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put money or other things in a secret or safe place for later use, often with away: They stashed the cash under a floorboard.[7][4][2]
  2. (chiefly British, slang) To stop or give up something, as in stash it, stop it.[4][2][5]

Noun

  1. A secret store of something; a hoard or cache.[7][4][2]
  2. (slang) A supply of an illegal drug, especially one kept for personal use.[7][2][4]
  3. A hiding place.[4][2][7]
  4. A person's collection of fabric, yarn or other craft supplies kept for future projects.[2]

Usage notes

A separate noun stash, a moustache, recorded from 1940, is a clipping of moustache.[2][5][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 r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b 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)