wash Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a thin coat of water-base paint
  2. noun the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)
    lavation; washing.
  3. noun the dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a canyon)
    dry wash.
  4. noun the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water (as from a roadway)
    washout.
    • from the house they watched the washout of their newly seeded lawn by the water
  5. noun the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller
    slipstream; race; backwash; airstream.
  6. noun a watercolor made by applying a series of monochrome washes one over the other
    wash drawing.
  7. noun garments or white goods that can be cleaned by laundering
    washing; laundry; washables.
  8. noun any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out
    • at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash
  9. verb clean with some chemical process
    rinse.
  10. verb cleanse (one's body) with soap and water
    lave.
  11. verb cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water
    launder.
    • Wash the towels, please!
  12. verb move by or as if by water
    • The swollen river washed away the footbridge
  13. verb be capable of being washed
    • Does this material wash?
  14. verb admit to testing or proof
    • This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court
  15. verb separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)
  16. verb apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to
  17. verb remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap or some other cleaning agent
    wash away; wash out; wash off.
    • he washed the dirt from his coat
    • The nurse washed away the blood
    • Can you wash away the spots on the windows?
    • he managed to wash out the stains
  18. verb form by erosion
    • The river washed a ravine into the mountainside
  19. verb make moist
    moisten; dampen.
    • The dew moistened the meadows
  20. verb wash or flow against
    lave; lap.
    • the waves laved the shore
  21. verb to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking
    • The cat washes several times a day

WordNet

Wash transitive verb
Etymology
OE. waschen, AS. wascan; akin to D. wasschen, G. waschen, OHG. wascan, Icel. & Sw. vaska, Dan. vaske, and perhaps to E. water.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Washed ; present participle & verbal noun Washing
Definitions
  1. To cleanse by ablution, or dipping or rubbing in water; to apply water or other liquid to for the purpose of cleansing; to scrub with water, etc., or as with water; as, to wash the hands or body; to wash garments; to wash sheep or wool; to wash the pavement or floor; to wash the bark of trees.
    When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, . . . he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. Matt. xxvii. 24.
  2. To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten; hence, to overflow or dash against; as, waves wash the shore.
    Fresh-blown roses washed with dew. Milton.
    [The landscape] washed with a cold, gray mist. Longfellow.
  3. To waste or abrade by the force of water in motion; as, heavy rains wash a road or an embankment. now, wash out.
  4. To remove by washing to take away by, or as by, the action of water; to drag or draw off as by the tide; -- often with away, off, out, etc.; as, to wash dirt from the hands.
    Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins. Acts xxii. 16.
    The tide will wash you off. Shak.
  5. To cover with a thin or watery coat of color; to tint lightly and thinly.
  6. To overlay with a thin coat of metal; as, steel washed with silver.
Wash intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To perform the act of ablution.
    Wash in Jordan seven times. 2 Kings v. 10.
  2. To clean anything by rubbing or dipping it in water; to perform the business of cleansing clothes, ore, etc., in water. "She can wash and scour." Shak.
  3. To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as, some calicoes do not wash. Colloq.
  4. To be wasted or worn away by the action of water, as by a running or overflowing stream, or by the dashing of the sea; -- said of road, a beach, etc.
Wash noun
Definitions
  1. The act of washing; an ablution; a cleansing, wetting, or dashing with water; hence, a quantity, as of clothes, washed at once.
  2. A piece of ground washed by the action of a sea or river, or sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the shallowest part of a river, or arm of the sea; also, a bog; a marsh; a fen; as, the washes in Lincolnshire. "The Wash of Edmonton so gay." Cowper.
    These Lincoln washes have devoured them. Shak.
  3. Substances collected and deposited by the action of water; as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc.
    The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled. Mortimer.
  4. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs. Shak.
  5. (Distilling) (a) The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted. (b) A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation. B. Edwards.
  6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared, tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically: -- (a) A liquid cosmetic for the complexion. (b) A liquid dentifrice. (c) A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash. (d) A medical preparation in a liquid form for external application; a lotion. (e) (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color. (j) A thin coat of metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
  7. (Naut.) (a) The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water. (b) The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
  8. The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a wave; also, the sound of it.
  9. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters. Prov. Eng.
Wash adjective
Definitions
  1. Washy; weak. Obs.
    Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper. Beau. & Fl.
  2. Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash goods. Colloq.

Webster 1913