ash¹

[ash] /æʃ/

noun

the powdery residue of matter that remains after burning.

Also called volcanic ash. Geology. finely pulverized lava thrown out by a volcano in eruption.

a light, silvery-gray color.

ashes.

deathlike grayness; extreme pallor suggestive of death.
ruins, especially the residue of something destroyed; remains; vestiges:
the ashes of their love; the ashes of the past.
mortal remains, especially the physical or corporeal body as liable to decay.
anything, as an act, gesture, speech, or feeling, that is symbolic of penance, regret, remorse, or the like.

Origin

before 950; Middle English a(i)sshe, Old English asce, æsce; cognate with Frisian esk, Dutch asch, Old Norse, Old High German aska (German Asche), Gothic azgo < Germanic *askōn- (with Goth unexplained); akin to Latin ārēre be dry (see arid), Tocharian ās- get dry, Sanskrit ā́sa- ashes, Hittite hassi on the hearth; < Indo-European *HaHs-

Related forms

ashiness, noun

ashless, adjective

ash²

[ash] /æʃ/

noun

any of various trees of the genus Fraxinus, of the olive family, especially F. excelsior, of Europe and Asia, or F. americana (white ash) of North America, having opposite, pinnate leaves and purplish flowers in small clusters.

the tough, straight-grained wood of any of these trees, valued as timber.

Also, æsc. the symbol “æ.”.

Origin

before 900; Middle English asshe, Old English æsc; cognate with Frisian esk, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch asch, Old Saxon, Old High German asc (German Esche, with altered vowel from the adj. derivative eschen, Middle High German eschîn), Old Norse askr; akin to Latin ornus, Welsh onnen, Russian yásenʾ, Czech jasan, Lithuanian úosis, Armenian hatsʰi; Albanian ah beech; < Indo-European *H_oes-

Examples from the web for ash

But while travelling with refugees, alex gets separated from ash.
A predator that has learned to avoid the wasp would similarly avoid the ash borer.
This cake is a mixture of ash, unburned tobacco, oils, sugars, and other residue.
It has several eyes which it uses to see scrumptious ash pellets.
The bricks often have added lime, ash, and organic matter to speed the burning.

British Dictionary definitions for ash

ash¹

/æʃ/

noun

the nonvolatile products and residue formed when matter is burnt

any of certain compounds formed by burning See soda ash

fine particles of lava thrown out by an erupting volcano

a light silvery grey colour, often with a brownish tinge

ash²

/æʃ/

noun

any oleaceous tree of the genus Fraxinus, esp F. excelsior of Europe and Asia, having compound leaves, clusters of small greenish flowers, and winged seeds

the close-grained durable wood of any of these trees, used for tool handles, etc

any of several trees resembling the ash, such as the mountain ash

(Austral) any of several Australian trees resembling the ash, esp of the eucalyptus genus

Word Origin

Old English æsc; related to Old Norse askr, Old Saxon, Old High German ask, Lithuanian uosis

ash³

/æʃ/

noun

the digraph æ, as in Old English, representing a front vowel approximately like that of the a in Modern English hat. The character is also used to represent this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet

ASH

/æʃ/

noun acronym (in Britain)

Action on Smoking and Health

Word Origin and History for ash

"powdery remains of fire," Old English æsce "ash," from Proto-Germanic *askon (cf. Old Norse and Swedish aska, Old High German asca, German asche, Gothic azgo "ashes"), from PIE root *as- "to burn, glow" (cf. Sanskrit asah "ashes, dust," Armenian azazem "I dry up," Greek azein "to dry up, parch," Latin ardus "parched, dry"). Spanish and Portuguese ascua "red-hot coal" are Germanic loan-words.

Symbol of grief or repentance; hence Ash Wednesday (c.1300), from custom introduced by Pope Gregory the Great of sprinkling ashes on the heads of penitents on the first day of Lent. Ashes meaning "mortal remains of a person" is late 13c., in reference to the ancient custom of cremation.

type of tree, Old English æsc "ash tree," also "spear made of ash wood," from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz (cf. Old Norse askr, Old Saxon ask, Middle Dutch esce, German Esche), from PIE root *os- "ash tree" (cf. Armenian haci "ash tree," Albanian ah "beech," Greek oxya "beech," Latin ornus "wild mountain ash," Russian jasen, Lithuanian uosis "ash"). Ash was the preferred wood for spear-shafts, so Old English æsc sometimes meant "spear" (cf. æsc-here "company armed with spears").

ash in Technology

tool
A Bourne Shell clone by Kenneth Almquist. It works pretty well. For running scripts, it is sometimes better and sometimes worse than Bash.
Ash runs under 386BSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, and Linux.
FTP Linux version (ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/linux/ports/ash-linux-0.1.tar.gz).
(1995-07-20)

Related Abbreviations for ash

ash

Additional Sponsors House

ASH

Action on Smoking and Health
American Society of Hematology
American Society of Hypertension
asymmetric septal hypertrophy

ash in the Bible

(Heb. o'ren, "tremulous"), mentioned only Isa. 44:14 (R.V., "fir tree"). It is rendered "pine tree" both in the LXX. and Vulgate versions. There is a tree called by the Arabs _aran_, found still in the valleys of Arabia Petraea, whose leaf resembles that of the mountain ash. This may be the tree meant. Our ash tree is not known in Syria.