Definition of bash

The word "bash" has a interesting origin. It dates back to the late 19th century in the British Isles. Initially, it referred to a violent collision or crash, often in the context of a physical fight or an accident. For example, "The car had a bash with a tree" would indicate a serious collision. Over time, the meaning of "bash" expanded to include a sense of sudden and violent action, like "He gave the door a bash and it swung open". In the 1920s, the term also took on a more idiomatic sense, referring to a vigorous or forceful application of something, such as "give something a bash" (meaning to try it out) or "bash it out" (meaning to play it loudly). Today, the word "bash" is commonly used in computing, particularly in the Linux community, to refer to a command-line shell scripting language called Bash, or "Bourne-Again SHell". Despite its different usage, the core idea of "bash" remains: a sense of sudden, forceful, and often dramatic action.