Noun

1. A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.
2. A plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd kind.

   Note: The species are much confused. The long-neck squash is called Cucurbita verrucosa, the Barbary or China squash, C. moschata, and the great winter squash, C. maxima, but the distinctions are not clear.

3. A soft drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water.

   When I'm thirsty I drink squash; it tastes much nicer than plain water.

4. A place or a situation where people have limited space to move.

   It's a bit of a squash in this small room.

5. A muskrat, short form of musquash.
6. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.
7. Something unripe or soft; -- used in contempt.
8. A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.

Verb

1. To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.
2. To compress or restrict into a small space; to squeeze.

   Somehow, she squashed all her books into her backpack, which was now too heavy to carry.

3. To become compressed or restricted by contact with others.

   We all managed to squash into Mum's tiny car.