Noun

(en noun)

A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.

(linguistics, sensu lato) A part of speech which can not be declined, an adverb, preposition, conjunction or interjection

* 1844 , E. A. Andrews: First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar. (6th edition, Boston), p.91 ( at books.google)

322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles . 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

* 1894 (2008), B. L. Gildersleeve & G. Lodge: Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar (reprint of the 3rd edition by Dover, 2008), p.9. ( at books.google)

The Parts of Speech are the Noun (Substantive and Adjective), the Pronoun, the Verb, and the Particles (Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction)[.]

(linguistics, sensu stricto) A word that has a particular grammatical function but does not obviously belong to any particular part of speech, such as the word to in English infinitives or O as the vocative particle.

* {{quote-web

, date = 1965-06-04 , author = Shigeyuki Kuroda , title = Generative grammatical studies in the Japanese language , site = DSpace@MIT , url = http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/13006 , accessdate = 2014-02-24 , page = 38 }}

In English there is no grammatical device to differentiate predicational judgments from nonpredicational descriptions. This distinction does cast a shadow on the grammatical sphere to some extent, but recognition of it must generally be made in semantic terms. It is maintained here that in Japanese, on the other hand, the distinction is grammatically realized through the use of the two particles wa and ga.

*

Traditional grammar typically recog-
nises a number of further categories: for example, in his Reference Book of
Terms in Traditional Grammar for Language Students'', Simpson (1982) posits
two additional word-level categories which he refers to as ''Particle'', and
''Conjunction''. Particles include the italicised words in (58) below:
(58) (a)      He put his hat ''on''
       (b)      If you pull too hard, the handle will come ''off''
       (c)      He was leaning too far over the side, and fell ''out''
       (d)      He went ''up to see the manager

(physics) Any of various physical objects making up the constituent parts of an atom; an elementary particle or subatomic particle.

* 2011 , & Jeff Forshaw, The Quantum Universe , Allen Lane 2011, p. 55:

What, he asked himself, does quantum theory have to say about the familiar properties of particles such as position?

*{{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April

, author=(Jeremy Bernstein) , title=A Palette of Particles , volume=100, issue=2, page=146 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=The physics of elementary particles' in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of ' particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.}}

Noun

(es)

(typography) Any of the following symbols: (''horizontal bar ).

sometimes dash'' is also used colloquially to refer to a ''hyphen'' or ''minus sign .

A short run.

A small quantity of a liquid substance; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.

Add a dash of vinegar

Vigor.

Aren't we full of dash this morning?

A dashboard.

* 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 31:

The dash clock said 2:38 when.

One of the two symbols of Morse code.

(Nigeria) A bribe or gratuity.

* 1992 , George B. N. Ayittey, Africa betrayed (page 44)

The traditional practice of offering gifts or "dash " to chiefs has often been misinterpreted by scholars to provide a cultural explanation for the pervasive incidence of bribery and corruption in modern Africa.

* 2006 , Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885-1950 (page 99)

Writing in 1924 on a similar situation in Ugep, the political officer, Mr. S. T. Harvey noted: "In the old days there was no specified dowry but merely dashes given to the father-in-law

* 2008 , Lizzie Williams, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide (page 84)

The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars.

(obsolete, euphemistic) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)

* 1824 , "Kiddywinkle History, No. II", Blackwood's Magazine (15, May 1824) p. 540

I'll be dashed if I gan another step for less 'an oaf.

* 1853 , (William Makepeace Thackery), (The Newcomes)'', Chapter VI, serialized in ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine , (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853) p. 118

Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you! but wanting still to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his pride once more into his waistband.

*:Comment : Some editions leave this passage out. Of those that include it, some change the 'you!' to 'you?'.

* 1884 , (Lord Robert Gower), My Reminiscences'', reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", ''The Christian Union , (29) 22, (May 29, 1884) p. 524

Who the dash' is this person whom none of us know? and what the ' dash does he do here?

* 1939 , , (Uncle Fred in the Springtime) Chapter 8

I'll be dashed if I squash in with any domestic staff.