- 1[singular] a dash (for something) an act of going somewhere suddenly and/or quickly When the doors opened, there was a mad dash for seats. a 60-mile dash to safety He jumped off the bus and made a dash for the nearest bar. We waited for the police to leave then made a dash for it (= left quickly in order to escape). Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivequick, sudden, frantic, … verb + dashmake prepositiondash across, dash for, dash from, … See full entry
- 2[singular] an act of doing something quickly because you do not have enough time a last-minute dash to buy presents Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivequick, sudden, frantic, … verb + dashmake prepositiondash across, dash for, dash from, … See full entry small amount
- 3[countable, usually singular] dash (of something) a small amount of something that is added to something else Add a dash of lemon juice. The rug adds a dash of colour to the room. The album is a mixture of rock and gospel, with a dash of jazz thrown in. compare splash Oxford Collocations Dictionary verb + dashadd prepositiondash of See full entry symbol
- 4 [countable] the mark (—) used to separate parts of a sentence, often instead of a colon or in pairs instead of brackets/parentheses compare hyphen See related entries: Punctuation race
- 5[countable, usually singular] (especially North American English) a race in which the people taking part run very fast over a short distance synonym sprint the 100-meter dash See related entries: Athletics way of behaving
- 6[uncountable] (old-fashioned, approving) a way of behaving that combines style, enthusiasm and confidence He brought youthful energy, dash and charisma to the department. part of car
- 7[countable] (informal) = dashboard see also pebble-dash Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘strike forcibly against’): probably symbolic of forceful movement and related to Swedish and Danish daska.Extra examples He made a 200-mile dash to the hospital when a kidney donor became available. He made a dash for the door. The book starts with a quick dash through the country’s history. The food is European with a dash of Morocco. We had to make a frantic dash across town to get our plane a mad dash through back alleys We waited for the police to leave, then made a dash for it.Idioms
something done quickly
(British English) to look attractive in a particular set of clothes, especially in a way that makes other people notice you He cut quite a dash in his uniform.
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