Financial Term: “ Quash” Meaning and Usage
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Quash Definition and meaning
Quash, generally used for legal, political matters or to discuss ideas, means putting down, stopping, or extinguishing. Militaries also use the word to describe revolution.
The word quash generates from the French term smash or shatter and indicates something extreme. To quash something means suppression of facts by someone with excessive power. Suppose you write a poem and the publisher rejects it to publish and tears it into pieces only because you are a novice, which can be a quash definition. This way, we can define quash.
Other quash synonyms include:
- Rejects as invalid, especially by legal procedure
- Put an end to
- Stamp out, etc.
The etymology of ‘quash’
The term etymology suggests the historical research or the source of words and the way their meaning change.
Quash came in the English language at the starting of the 14th century for the first time. At that time, quash means ‘to annul or make void.’ The old French words ‘Cassare, Quasser,’ were the sources of the term that indicate ‘to declare void, annul.’ The French term derived from a Medieval Latin word ‘Quassare,’ which signified ‘null, void, empty.’
What is to quash?
If someone rejects something by calling it not valid is called to quash. To quash is particularly visible in legal cases. The term indicates that any previous official decision is not authorized from now on and will be dismissed.
If you don’t like something and want to close it by applying force, then it indicates you quash that occurrence. There is a sentence, “ACME Inc. moved swiftly to quash rumors that it was in trouble” it suggests that it applied force to stop spreading rumors. Here, quash is used to extinguish or to stamp out.
Some examples:
- ‘Court quashes a decision or judgment,’ means the court rejects the prior decision or judgment.
- ‘The company quashes the rumors’ means the company forcefully stamps out the story to prevail.
- ‘To quash a protest or rebellion’ means to stop a protest, and that too with the help of violence.
Motion to quash
Motion to quash signifies a legal phrase. If an applicant requests a court to declare any prior judgment, it is called a motion to quash. Here the applicant wants the judge to “null’ the prior decision. “Null” indicates to have no obligation or legal power; in a word, it can be called invalid.
The motion to quash can be placed if an advocate commits any error within the court hearing. On the other hand, advocates can also file an action if they find anything absurd in the court-made judgment.
An attorney can also raise a motion to quash if he/she finds any judge or decision irrational by following legal methods.