masher
masher Lexical Profile
masher Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A kitchen utensil or mechanical device used for crushing cooked food, especially boiled potatoes, into a soft, smooth pulp.
"She used a stainless steel masher to prepare the boiled potatoes for dinner."
North American A man who makes unwelcome, aggressive, or persistent romantic or sexual advances toward women in public (dated slang).
"In early twentieth-century cities, women sometimes carried long hatpins to fend off an aggressive masher on crowded streetcars."
British A fashionable young man or dandy of the late nineteenth century who frequented music halls and dressed ostentatiously (historical slang).
"The Victorian music hall comedy featured a vain masher wearing a high stiff collar and a monocle."
• Rhymes for masher
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed from the verb 'mash' (from Old English 'masc-', meaning a soft mixture) plus the agent suffix '-er'. The dated slang sense of a man who makes unwelcome advances arose in late 19th-century American theater slang from the phrase 'to make a mash on', meaning to infatuate or crush on someone.