n. [ OE. asch, esh, AS. æsc; akin to OHG. asc, Sw. & Dan. ask, Icel. askr, D. esch, G. esche. ] 1. (Bot.) A genus of trees of the Olive family, having opposite pinnate leaves, many of the species furnishing valuable timber, as the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and the white ash (Fraxinus Americana). [ 1913 Webster ]

Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum Americanum) and
Poison ash (Rhus venenata) are shrubs of different families, somewhat resembling the true ashes in their foliage. --
Mountain ash. See Roman tree, and under Mountain. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The tough, elastic wood of the ash tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ash is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound term; as, ash bud, ash wood, ash tree, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n., sing. of Ashes. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Ash is rarely used in the singular except in connection with chemical or geological products; as, soda ash, coal which yields a red ash, etc., or as a qualifying or combining word; as, ash bin, ash heap, ash hole, ash pan, ash pit, ash-grey, ash-colored, pearlash, potash. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bone ash, burnt powered; bone earth. --
Volcanic ash. See under Ashes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To strew or sprinkle with ashes. Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. a- + shame: cf. AS. āscamian to shame (where ā- is the same as Goth. us-, G. er-, and orig. meant out), gescamian, gesceamian, to shame. ] To shame. [ R. ] Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Orig. a p. p. of ashame, v. t. ] Affected by shame; abashed or confused by guilt, or a conviction or consciousness of some wrong action or impropriety. “I am ashamed to beg.” Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

All that forsake thee shall be ashamed. Jer. xvii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

I began to be ashamed of sitting idle. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Enough to make us ashamed of our species. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

An ashamed person can hardly endure to meet the gaze of those present. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Ashamed seldom precedes the noun or pronoun it qualifies. By a Hebraism, it is sometimes used in the Bible to mean disappointed, or defeated. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Bashfully. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Ashantees A native or an inhabitant of Ashantee in Western Africa. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Ashantee. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a bin that holds rubbish until it is collected.
Syn. -- trash can, garbage can, wastebin, ashbin, dustbin, trash barrel, trash bin. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of the color of ashes; a whitish gray or brownish gray. [ 1913 Webster ]