ash

Solid remains of a fire.

Adverb

  1. Abbreviation of as hell or as heck.

    Synonyms: asf asl

Origin

Abbreviation.

Related

Yggdrasil cinerary

Noun Entry 2

  1. Solid remains of a fire.
    • The audience was more captivated by the growing ash at the end of his cigarette than by his words.
    • Ash from a fireplace can restore minerals to your garden's soil.
    • Ashes from the fire floated over the street.
  2. The nonaqueous remains of a material subjected to any complete oxidation process.
  3. Fine particles from a volcano, volcanic ash.
  4. Human (or animal) remains after cremation.
    • The urn containing his ashes was eventually removed to a closet.
  5. Mortal remains in general.
    • Napoleon’s ashes are not yet extinguished, and we’re breathing in their sparks.
  6. What remains after a catastrophe.
    • Now, it's Haiti that needs help to rebuild and rise from the ashes [of an earthquake]. - 2010 May 6, Jean-Claude Laguerre, “Haiti Will Rise From the Ashes”, in The Epoch Times:
  7. A gray color, similar to that of the remains of a fire.
  8. The resultant remaining more stable patterns that emerge from the evolution of a soup or a similarly random pattern.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-der.? Proto-Germanic *askǭ Proto-West Germanic *askā Old English æsce Middle English asshe English ash From Middle English aisshe, asche, ash, asshe, axe, eshe, esk, from Old English acse, asċe, axe, axse, æsċe, from Proto-West Germanic *askā, from Proto-Germanic *askǭ (“ash”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to be dry; to burn; hearth; ashes”). Cognates Cognate with Yola ashen, oaskean (“ashes”), Saterland Frisian Ääske (“ash”), West Frisian jiske (“ash”), Alemannic German Äsche (“ash”), Cimbrian èssa (“ash”), Dutch as, asch (“ash”), German Asche (“ash”), Limburgish Aïsch, Aïsche, Äsch (“ash; grayling”), Luxembourgish Äsch (“ash”), Vilamovian oś, oš (“ash”), Yiddish אַש (ash, “ash”), Danish aske (“ash”), Faroese øska (“ash, ashes”), Icelandic and Swedish aska (“ash”), Norwegian Bokmål aske (“ash”), Norwegian Nynorsk oske (“ash”), Gothic 𐌰𐌶𐌲𐍉...

Forms

ashes

Synonyms

cremains

Derived

acid-ash ashbin ash blond ash-blond ash blonde ash-blonde ash bread ash cake ashcake ashcan ash cash ash-colored ash-coloured ashdump ashen ashery ashfall ashfield ashflow ash gourd ash gray ash grey ash-heap ash-heap-cake

Noun Entry 3

  1. A shade tree of the genus Fraxinus.
    • The ash trees are dying off due to emerald ash borer.
    • The woods planted in ash will see a different mix of species.

    Synonyms: ash tree

  2. Any tree of certain species of other genera.
  3. The wood of this tree.
    • English soldiers handled sturdy bows of yew, ash, or elm, which could propel an iron-tipped arrow as far as a hundred yards. - 1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The...
  4. The traditional name for the ae ligature (æ), as used in Old English.

    Related: æsc æsh

Origin

From Middle English aissh, asch, asche, ashe, assche, assh, asshe, esch, haish, from Old English æsċ, from Proto-West Germanic *ask, from Proto-Germanic *askaz (“ash”), from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- (“ash”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aish (“ash”), North Frisian eskebuum (“ash”), West Frisian esk (“ash”), Cimbrian ess (“ash”), Dutch es (“ash”), German Esche (“ash”), Limburgish èsj (“ash”), Luxembourgish Esch (“ash”), Yiddish אַשבוים (ashboym, “ash”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ask (“ash”), Faroese ask, askur (“ash”), Icelandic askur (“ash”); also Welsh onn, ynn (“ash”), Latin ornus (“rowan”), Greek οξιά (oxiá, “beech; wood”), Albanian ah (“beech”), Latgalian ūss (“ash”), Latvian osis (“ash”), Lithuanian uosis (“ash”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian я́сень (jásenʹ, “ash”), Bulgarian я́сен (jásen, “ash”), Czech jasan (“ash”), Macedonian јасен (jasen,...

Forms

ashes

Derived

Afghan ash American ash Arizona ash Ash Fork ash-leaf maple ash-leaved maple Biltmore ash black ash blue ash blueberry ash Bunge's ash California ash Cape ash Carolina ash Caucasian ash Chihuahua ash Chinese ash Korean ash Claret ash claret ash common ash crow's ash European ash flowering ash fragrant ash

Noun alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative form of aush.

Origin

Transliteration of Persian آش.

Verb

  1. To reduce to a residue of ash. See ashing.
    • I dried the extracted leather very slowly on the steam bath […] until the substance was dry enough to ash. […] I think that the discrepancy in the percentages of "total ash" by method No. 2 and No. 6 is due to this...
    • The inorganic material left after ashing lung tissue specimens not only contains inhaled particles but also very large quantities of inorganic residue derived from the tissue itself. - 1981, Hans Weill, Margaret...
    • Ash and silica contents of the plant material were determined by classical gravimetric techniques. Tissue samples were ashed in platinum crucibles at about 500 °C, and the ash was treated repeatedly with 6 N...
  2. To hit the end off (a burning cigar or cigarette).
    • "Nonsense," Mrs. Gardiner challenged, ashing her cigarette. - 1936, F.J. Thwaites, The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards Publishing, published 1940, page 62:
    • He realized that he was standing staring at her and he sat down quickly, making a business of ashing his cigarette. - 1961, Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright, published 1988, page ii. 52:
    • Hamilton ashed his cigar, and studied the end of it for some moments without speaking. - 1978, C.J. Koch, The Year of Living Dangerously, published 1986, page 35:
  3. To mark (someone) with an ashen cross on the forehead to observe Ash Wednesday.
  4. To cover newly-sown fields of crops with ashes.
    • Last spring, after I planted, I took what ashes I have saved during the last year, and put on my corn […] . On harvesting I cut up the two rows which were not ashed (or twenty rods of them,) and set them apart from the...
    • After the corn was planted, upon acre A, I spread broadcast one hundred bushels of lime, (cost $3) and fifty bushels of ashes, (cost $6.) […] The extra crop of the combination over the limed acre or ashed, was paid by...

Forms

ashes ashing ashed