A slushy is a cold drink made from crushed or finely shaved ice mixed with flavored syrup, creating a texture somewhere between liquid and solid. When you sip a slushy through a straw, you get a rush of icy sweetness that's perfect on a hot summer day. The ice crystals slide across your tongue, half-melted and refreshing.

Convenience stores and movie theaters often sell slushies in bright colors like blue raspberry, cherry, or cola. Some people make slushies at home by crushing ice and adding fruit juice or soda. The key is getting the ice fine enough to drink through a straw but thick enough to stay frozen and slushy.

The word also describes the messy, wet snow that forms on streets and sidewalks when snow starts to melt. Winter snow that looked clean and white becomes gray, slushy puddles that splash when cars drive through them. This slushy snow soaks through shoes and makes walking unpleasant, unlike the frozen kind you can build snowmen with or the slushy drink that cools you down in summer.