mash

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mash/maʃ/

▶verb

• 1 reduce (a food or other substance) to a pulpy mass by crushing it.

  ■ US & W. Indian informal press forcefully on.

• 2 (in brewing) mix (powdered malt) with hot water to form wort.

• 3 N. English (with reference to tea) brew or infuse.

▶noun

• 1 a soft mass made by crushing a substance into a pulp.

  ■ Brit. informal boiled and mashed potatoes.

• 2 bran mixed with hot water, given as a warm food to horses.

• 3 (in brewing) a mixture of powdered malt and hot water, which is left standing until the sugars dissolve to form the wort.

– origin OE māsc (used as a brewing term), of W. Gmc origin.