noun
hash
HASH
noun
1
A dish of chopped meat and vegetables (often potatoes) fried together.
"She made corned beef hash with the Sunday leftovers."
2
A confused, jumbled mess.
"He made a hash of the instructions and the shelf ended up crooked."
3
The # symbol.
"Type the hash key followed by your extension number."
4
In computing, the fixed-length code produced by feeding data through a hash function.
"The website stores a hash of your password, not the password itself."
5
Informal short form of hashish.
"He was caught with a small block of hash at the airport."
verb
1
To chop food into small pieces, or to make a mess of something.
"They hashed the potatoes with onions and peppers."
"The new intern hashed the whole filing system."
How to Use Hash
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishDepending on context: chopped fried food, a jumbled mess, the # symbol, a scrambled data code, or slang for hashish.
Common mistake
In computing, don't confuse a "hash" (the output code) with "hashtag" (the # symbol used to label social media posts) — related but different things.
Common pairings
make a hash of
hash browns
hash function
hash tag
Word Forms
hashed past tense, hashes plural, Hashes plural, hashes singular
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “hash”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
She made corned beef _____ with the Sunday leftovers.
Etymology
From French hacher, "to chop" — the same root gives English "hatchet."