quash

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 24, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>quash</strong> &#149; \KWAHSH\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> to nullify especially by judicial action</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"His appeal [of a zoning decision allowing the school to be built], which attorneys for the district and developer said threatened the entire project, was <em>quashed</em> by a judge in February for being late." —  <a href="https://northeasttimes.com/2020/03/11/cba-amendment-clears-way-for-new-mayfair-school/">Jack Tomczuk, <em>Northeast Times</em> (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 11 Mar. 2020</a></p> <p>"In Chesterfield County, a tenant had to request an emergency hearing when the landlord refused to call off a scheduled eviction after receiving a signed declaration. A judge <em>quashed</em> the eviction….. " — <a href="https://richmond.com/news/local/61-and-counting-evictions-continue-in-richmond-area-despite-federal-moratorium/article_8a1c57ea-3fbb-56e1-ab76-6eb02282af14.html">Mark Robinson, <em>The Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch</em>, 27 Sept. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>There are two <em>quash</em> verbs in the English language, and although their meanings are similar, they have entirely different origins. Both essentially mean to get rid of something—you can quash a rumor, for example, or you can quash a judicial order. The legal term <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quash#h2">quash</a></em> (meaning "to nullify") comes from the Anglo-French words <em>casser</em> or <em>quasser</em>, meaning "to annul," and is ultimately from Latin <em>cassus</em>, "to void." The other <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quash#h1">quash</a></em> means "to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely." It derives from the Middle English word <em>qu