Here was a consent,
Knowing aforehand of our merriment,
To dash it like a Christmas comedy.
V, II, 462.
The figurative meaning of the word dash is to destroy, frustrate, spoil; in this instance it would rather signify throwing cold water upon it. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was the usual word for the rejection of a Bill in Parliament.
As the cry of yea or no is bigger, so the Bill is allowed or dashed.
Sir T. Smith, Commonwealth of England, 1633.
The word is now obsolete except in the phrase: To dash one’s hopes or spirits.
ZANY.
Some carry tale, some please man, some slight Zany.