Tuesday, April 27, 2010

quash \KWOSH\, transitive verb:

1. (Law) To abate, annul, overthrow, or make void; as, "to quash an indictment."

2. To crush; to subdue; to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely; as, "to quash a rebellion."

Quash comes from Medieval French quasser, from Latin quassare, "to shake violently, to shatter," frequentative form of quatere, "to shake." Quash, "to annul," has been sense-influenced by Late Latin cassare, "to annul," from Latin cassus, "empty," whereas quash, "to crush," has been sense-influenced by squash.

Gleeks

• Fans of the TV show Glee, which first aired in May 2009.

We're such Gleeks, we've seen every episode twice.
Trivia

Who originated the phrase “nudge, nudge, wink, wink”?

• Comedian Eric Idle, in a 1969 skit he wrote for the side-splitting British TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

History

• Battle of Dunbar: Scots were massacred by the English as the Wars of Scottish Independence began (1296)
• Ferdinand Magellan: the leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe was killed by Philippine natives in the Battle of Mactan (1521)
• Paradise Lost: John Milton, blind and impoverished, sold the copyright for his epic poem for £10 (1667)
• SS Sultana: the worst maritime disaster in US history occurred when the wooden steamboat exploded and sank on the Mississippi near Memphis, killing up to 1,800 former Union POWs recently released from Confederate prison camps (1865)

Birthdays

• Samuel Morse (1791-1872): inventor of the telegraph and Morse Code
• Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885): 18th POTUS
• Walter Lantz (1900-1994): animator, Woody Woodpecker
• Jack Klugman (88): Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple; also, actors Anouk Aimée (78), Sandy Dennis (1937-1992), Judy Carne (71) and James LeGros (48)
• Coretta Scott King (1927-2006): civil rights activist and widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• August Wilson (1945-2005): Pulitzer Prize-winner for Fences and The Piano Lesson; plus, writers Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and C. Day Lewis (1904-1972)
• Sheena Easton (51): singer, actress; also, radio announcer Casey Kasem (78) and singers Judith Blegen (69), Cuba Gooding (66), Kate Pierson (62), Ann Peebles (63) and Ace Frehley (59)