Prompt 276: Dash

This week's prompt is dash. I began thinking about the various meanings of the word, so I went over to the Online Etymology Dictionary to track down its origins. I've included all I came across up to dashboard because I thought dashboard was interesting, if not relevant, and that's what happens when you open the dictionary.

dash (n.) 

late 14c., from dash (v.). Sporting sense is from 1881, originally "race run in one heat."

dashing (adj.) 

1801, "given to cutting a dash" (1786), which was a colloquial expression for "acting brilliantly," from dash (n.) in the sense of "showy appearance," which is attested from 1715. The sense of "splashing" is recorded from mid-15c.

dash (v.) 

c.1300, probably from a Scandinavian source (cf. Swedish daska, Danish daske "to beat, strike"), somehow imitative. The oldest sense is that in dash to pieces and dashed hopes. Intransitive meaning "move quickly" appeared c.1300, that of "to write hurriedly" is 1726. Related: Dashed; dashing.

dashboard (n.) 

1846, from dash (v.) + board (n.1); "board in front of a carriage to stop mud from being splashed ("dashed") into the vehicle by the horse's hoofs." Of motor vehicles, from 1904.

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