mash

verb

• 1reduce (a food or other substance) to a pulpy mass by crushing it:mash the beans to a paste (as adjective mashed)mashed potato
• crush or smash (something) to a pulp:he almost had his head mashed by a slamming door
• US & West Indian informal press forcefully on (something):the worst thing you can do is mash the brake pedal
• US & West Indian informal attack or assault:they both got mashed up pretty bad

• 2(in brewing) mix (powdered malt) with hot water to form wort: the barley is dried out over peat fires and mashed with water which flows through peat ground

• 3Northern English (with reference to tea) brew or infuse: I’ve just mashed a pot of tea [no object]:we’d let the pot mash for ten minutes

noun

• a soft mass made by crushing a substance into a pulp, sometimes with the addition of liquid:pound the garlic to a mash
• [mass noun] British informal boiled and mashed potatoes, with milk and butter added: sausages and mash
• [mass noun] bran mixed with hot water, given as a warm food to horses and other animals: a bucket of mash
• [mass noun] (in brewing) a mixture of powdered malt and hot water, which is left to stand until the sugars dissolve to form the wort: the brewer now transfers the mash to a mash tun