Ash Definition

ăsh

ashes

noun

ashes

The grayish-white to black powdery residue left when something is burned.

American Heritage

The white or grayish powder remaining after something has been thoroughly burned.

Webster's New World

Pulverized particulate matter ejected by volcanic eruption.

American Heritage

Fine volcanic dust.

Webster's New World

The mineral residue of incinerated organic matter, used as an additive in pet foods.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

verb

To reduce or convert to ash.

Ash a tissue sample for analysis.

American Heritage

(chemistry) To reduce to a residue of ash. See ashing.

Wiktionary

To hit the end off of a burning cigar or cigarette.

Wiktionary

1849, in a lettre to James Higgins, published in 1850 in The American Farmer, volume V, number 7, pages 227-8

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 the increased crop, […]

Wiktionary

pronoun

A topographic surname for someone who lived near ash trees.

Wiktionary

A male given name transferred from the surname.

Wiktionary

A diminutive of the female given names Ashley and Ashlee.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Ash

Noun

Singular:

ash

Plural:

ashes

Origin of Ash

From Middle English asshe, from Old English æsce, from Proto-Germanic *askǭ (compare West Frisian jiske, Dutch as, Low German Asch, German Asche, Danish aske, Swedish aska), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éHōs (compare Hittite [script?] (ḫašša, “potash, ashes”)[Cuneiform?], Ancient Greek ἄζα (aza, “dry dirt”), Albanian ashkë (“amadou, touchwood, tinder”), Old Armenian աճիւն (ačiwn, “ashes”), Ormuri yānak, Sanskrit आस (āsa, “ashes, dust”)), Kurdish ax (“soil”) (compare with xwelî (“ash”), cognate with English "soil").

From Wiktionary
Middle English asshe, from Old English æsc, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz (compare West Frisian esk, Dutch es, German Esche, Danish/Swedish ask), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃osk- (compare Welsh onnen, Latin ornus (“wild mountain ash”), Lithuanian úosis, Russian ясень (jasenʹ), Albanian ah (“beech”), Ancient Greek ὀξύα (oksua, “beech”), Old Armenian հացի (hacʿi)).

From Wiktionary
Middle English asshe from Old English æsce as- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English asshe from Old English æsc

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition