quash

quash [kwɒʃ] v. t.

1.) To annul, to make null or void (a law, decision, election, etc.); to throw out or reject (a writ, indictment, etc.) as invalid; to put an end to, stop completely (legal proceedings).
2.) To bring to nothing; to crush or destroy; to put down or suppress completely; to stifle (esp. a feeling, idea, scheme, undertaking, proceeding, etc.).
3.) To crush, quell, or utterly subdue (a person); to squash. Now rare.
4.) [Obs.] To break or dash in pieces; to smash; also, to crush, squeeze, squash (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition).

Etymology: Middle English quassen, from Old French casser, quasser, from Medieval Latin quassare, alteration (influenced by quassare, to shatter), of cassare from Latin cassus, empty, void.

"In one corner of this half-illumined recess there appeared an opening of about three feet wide, which seemed to lead to a place totally dark, and that, one of the natives assured us, contained nothing more than a reservoir of water. Upon this we tried, by throwing down some stones, which rumbling along the sides of the descent for some time, the sound seemed at last quashed in a bed of water" (A History of the Earth and Animated Nature Vol. I, Oliver Goldsmith, 1774).

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