The Collaborative International Dictionary
Squash \Squash\, n. [Massachusetts Indian asq, pl. asquash, raw, green, immature, applied to fruit and vegetables which were used when green, or without cooking; askutasquash vine apple.] (Bot.) A plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd kind.
Note: The species are much confused. The long-neck squash is called Cucurbita verrucosa, the Barbary or China squash, C. moschata, and the great winter squash, C. maxima, but the distinctions are not clear.
Squash beetle (Zo["o]l.), a small American beetle ( Diabrotica vittata, syn. Galeruca vittata) which is often abundant and very injurious to the leaves of squash, cucumber, etc. It is striped with yellow and black. The name is applied also to other allied species.
Squash bug (Zo["o]l.), a large black American hemipterous insect ( Coreus tristis syn. Anasa tristis) injurious to squash vines.