Verb

To give something a shape and definition.

* 1932 , The American Scholar , page 227, United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa

The professor never pretended to the academic prerogative of forcing his students into his own channels of reasoning; he entered into and helped shape the discussion but above all he made his men learn to think for themselves and rely upon their own intellectual judgments.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}

To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.

* Prior

Grace shaped her limbs, and beauty decked her face.

* {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Mark Vesty, work=BBC

, title= Wigan 2-2 Arsenal , passage=Bendtner's goal-bound shot was well saved by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi but fell to Arsahvin on the edge of the area and the Russian swivelled, shaped his body and angled a sumptuous volley into the corner. }}

(of a country, person, etc) To give influence to.

To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.

(Shakespeare)

(obsolete) To imagine; to conceive.

* Shakespeare

Oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not.

Verb

(es)

To run quickly or for a short distance.

He dashed across the field.

(informal) To leave or depart.

I have to dash now. See you soon.

To destroy by striking (against).

He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.

* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21

"`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.'

* 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 4

Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for she was but nine or ten years old.

To throw violently.

The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.

* Francis Bacon

If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound.

To sprinkle; to splatter.

* Thomson

On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade all dashing fall.

(of hopes or dreams) To ruin; to destroy.

Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=September 13 , author=Sam Lyon , title=Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Arsenal's hopes of starting their Champions League campaign with an away win were dashed when substitute Ivan Perisic's superb late volley rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund.}}

To dishearten; to sadden.

Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.

To complete hastily, usually with down'' or ''off .

He dashed''' down his eggs'', ''she '''dashed off her homework

To draw quickly; jot.

* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1

"Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe.

To throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner; to mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there.

to dash''' wine with water; to '''dash paint upon a picture

* Addison

I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications.

* Tennyson

The very source and fount of day / Is dashed with wandering isles of night.