squelch
/skwɛltʃ
/verb [no object]
1Make a soft sucking sound such as that made by treading heavily through mud: bedraggled guests squelched across the lawns...
- In a nearby part of the forest, a tall figure dashed confidently through the winding trees, the soft earth squelching slightly beneath his feet.
- The horses' hooves squelched in the muck of the roadway as they crossed to the south end where a faint light glimmered past the edge of the last house.
- Griffith had abandoned his own horse and was in the midst of walking towards him, his expression one of careful curiosity tinged with concern, his tall black boots spotted with muck as long grass squelched under his feet.
1.1 informal Forcefully silence or suppress: property developers tried to squelch public protest...
- But the BCFL and the social-democratic NDP have squelched even a protest campaign against the government.
- Johnny, however, knowing how Jelly couldn't keep a secret, just gave him a look that squelched any further protests.
- The security police quickly squelched an extremely rare public demonstration demanding political reform on Monday, the 41st anniversary of the Baath Party's seizure of power here.
noun
1A soft sucking sound made when pressure is applied to liquid or mud: the squelch of their feet...
- The concrete under foot was cold and unpleasantly damp, with intermittent soft squelches and sharp jabs.
- A soft squelch from the other side of the tree caught his attention, he peered round.
- Actually, for most of the time the path was sound, except for spring-fed squelches.
2 (also squelch circuit) Electronics A circuit that suppresses the output of a radio receiver if the signal strength falls below a certain level.Receivers use squelch detect circuits to recognize this condition, or the absence of this condition....
- A technique is used by a squelch circuit that generates a fast squelch.
- As I continued east at more than 600 knots, the ELT beacon became strong enough to break through the squelch setting of my radio.
Derivatives
squelcher
- What distinguishes thriving cities from those that stagnate and decline is a group of people she calls the ‘squelchers.’
- The leading squelcher after three rounds in this golfing equivalent of the individual medley is Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson.
- There's a huge market in Asia for mobile phone squelchers - in Hong Kong for example, people don't think twice about making and receiving calls in the cinema and theatre.
squelchy
/ adjective (squelchier, squelchiest) ...- Picture this: it's a bright and sunny day, you're walking along, you feel good, you take in deep breaths of fresh air, you admire the sky's cloud formations, you suddenly feel a soft squelchy sensation underfoot…
- Referee Hugh Dallas was ‘90 per cent sure’ he would have to call off the encounter when a mid-afternoon downpour that lasted an hour left the pitch looking squelchy come four o'clock.
- And when you walked on the bathroom floor it was soaked through and squelchy with pee.
Origin
Early 17th century (originally denoting a heavy crushing fall on to something soft): imitative.