Mush Is Both a Soft Food and a Sled Command
Mush is soft pulpy matter. It is also what a driver shouts to a dog team.
Mush is a soft, pulpy mass, and in North America a thick cornmeal porridge. The sledding command is a different word with an unexpected route: it comes from French *marchons*, let's go, shouted by French-Canadian drivers and reshaped by English speakers into *mush*. Modern mushers rarely use it — *hike* is the usual command — but the driver is still called a musher. The porridge sense is probably a variant of *mash*, and the figurative *mushy*, sentimental, is nineteenth-century American.
- A soft mass. *Reduced to mush.*
- Cornmeal porridge. *A bowl of mush.*
- A sled command. *Mush!*
- Musher — the driver. *A musher.*
- French — *marchons*. *The command.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | mush | Mush. |
| Verb | mush | Mushing. |
| Adjective | mushy | Mushy. |
| Agent | musher | A musher. |
| French | marchons | Let's go. |
- The fruit turned to mush.Texture.
- He ate cornmeal mush.Food.
- The musher called to the team.Sledding.
Real sled commands
- Hike — go, the usual modern start command
- Gee — turn right
- Haw — turn left
- Whoa — stop
- Mush survives mainly in fiction and in musher
The food is probably a variant of *mash*. The command is from French *marchons*, let us go.
Where does the sled command mush come from?
From French marchons, let's go, used by French-Canadian drivers and reshaped by English speakers.
Do mushers actually shout mush?
Rarely. Hike is the standard start command today, though the driver is still called a musher.