crush, dead squelch, etc. (1897?)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The Five Colleges Archives Digital Access Project has some interesting
materials. In the collection "Writings About Smith College, 1873-1922"
(<http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/writings/>) there's an unidentified
article titled "Slang of College Girls -- The 'Crush,' 'Dead  Squelch,'
and Other Terms Expressive of College Life":

http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/writings/1893-94/slang/01.htm

I've identified this as an article from the New York Sun (date unknown)
that was reprinted in the Boston Globe on Apr 11, 1897:

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VName=HNP&did=548378572

It was also reprinted in a few papers on Newspaperarchive, the earliest
appearing Apr 24, 1897 (Centralia Enterprise And Tribune, Wisc.). The Five
Colleges site dates the article to 1893, but it looks like it's from 1897.

The treatment of "crush" in an all-female context is interesting
(including the ppl. a. "crushed", in HDAS from 1895). I don't see "dead
squelch" attested elsewhere.


--Ben Zimmer