wash

verb

1. (transitive)To clean with water.

   “The car is so dirty, we need to wash it.”

   “Dishwashers wash dishes way more efficiently than most humans.”

   “This new washing powder rlly washes bedclothes superwhite.”

   “Wash the vegetables, drain off the surplus water, and pack them in a keg, crock, or other utensil until it is nearly full”

   “If using celery or okra, wash the vegetables in safe water.”

2. (transitive)To carry away or erode by the force of water in motion.

   “Don't pour that in the drain; it will wash downstream.”

   “Heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.”

   “The flood washed away houses.”

   “The remaining flotsam was washed ashore.”

3. (intransitive)To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
4. (intransitive)To clean oneself with water.

   “I wash every morning after getting up.”

5. (transitive)To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.

   “Waves wash the shore.”

   “fresh-blown roses washed with dew”

   “[the landscape] washed with a cold, grey mist”

6. (intransitive)To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.

   “to hear the water washing”

   “I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.”

7. (figuratively, intransitive)To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.

   ““And then, how could he know it was her coffee? No, old fellow, I don’t think that will wash.””

   “Laureano singled out for criticism several board members who resisted the creation of the MAC and who suggested instead that the board deal with "reverse discrimination." "That doesn't wash," said Laureano. "It's just a knee-jerk reaction to what we are trying to achieve."”

   “2012, The Economist, Oct 13th 2012 issue, The Jordan and its king: As beleaguered as ever The king is running out of ideas as well as cash. His favourite shock-absorbing tactic—to blame his governments and sack his prime ministers—hardly washes.”

   “Claims of a lack of parliamentary time don't wash.”

   “It won’t wash this time because Democrats smell blood, because Trump’s own supporters remain fixated and because the president’s refusal to release the Epstein files only adds to the intrigue.”

8. (intransitive)To bear without damage the operation of being washed; to be suitable for washing.

   “Some calicoes do not wash.”

9. (transitive)To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
10. (transitive)To overlay with a thin coat of metal.

    “steel washed with silver”

11. (transitive)To pass or extract (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.

    “Aqueous washings are done to remove water soluble impurities from organic products since normally the compound that you desire will be dissolved in the organic layer[…]”

12. To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
13. (transitive)To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
14. To mix up tiles (before a new game) to make them random; to shuffle.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.

   “I'm going to have a quick wash before coming to bed.”

   “My jacket needs a wash.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A liquid used for washing.
3. (countable, uncountable)A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.

   “mouth wash”

   “hand wash”

4. (countable, uncountable)The quantity of clothes washed at a time.

   “There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.”

5. (countable, uncountable)A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
6. (countable, uncountable)The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.

   “I could hear the wash of the wave.”

   “[…] the wind in the cordage and the wash of the sea helped the more to put them beyond earshot […]”

   “Bradly posed Cora against the incessantly moving patterns of the wash and set to work with nervous haste, alarmed at the difficult problem of water in movement.”

7. (countable, uncountable)The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:

   “The ship left a big wash”

   “Sail away from the wash to avoid rocking the boat.”

   “To date, much of the research undertaken on high-speed vessel wake wash has appeared only as unpublished reports for various authorities and management agencies.”

8. (countable, uncountable)The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
9. (countable, uncountable)The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
10. (countable, uncountable)The blade of an oar.
11. (countable, uncountable)Ground washed away to the sea or a river.

    “The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, […]where rain water hath a long time settled.”

12. (countable, uncountable)A piece of ground washed by the action of water, or sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the shallowest part of a river, or arm of the sea; also, a bog; a marsh.

    “These Lincoln washes have devoured them.”

13. (countable, uncountable)A shallow body of water.
14. (countable, uncountable)In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream.

    “Near-synonyms: arroyo, wadi, nahal (synonymous other than regiolectal specificity)”

    “1997, Stanley Desmond Smith, et al. Physiological Ecology of North American Desert Plants, Nature In some desert-wash systems (which have been termed “xero-riparian”)”

    “...though the wash may carry surface water for only a few hours a year.”

    “Rock Spring Wash continues a short distance then joins Watson Wash. Water from Rock Spring comes out of the boulder strewn wash and disappears into the sand”

15. (countable, idiomatic, uncountable)A situation in which gains and losses or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent, or in which there is no net change.

    “I knew that for every vote I cast for, say, the Republicans, some kid at a polling place nearby was casting his votes for the Democrats, so it was probably a wash or close to it.”

16. (countable, slang, uncountable)A fictitious kind of sale of stock or other securities between parties of one interest, or by a broker who is both buyer and seller, and who minds his own interest rather than that of his clients.
17. (countable, uncountable)Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
18. (countable, uncountable)In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
19. (countable, uncountable)A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.

    “In order to augment the vinosity of the wash, many substances are recommended by Dr. Shaw, such as tartar, nitre, common salt, and the vegetable or mineral acids.”

20. (countable, uncountable)A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
21. (countable, uncountable)Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
22. (countable, uncountable)The upper surface of a member or material when given a slope to shed water; hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water.

    “a carriage wash in a stable”

23. (countable, uncountable)A lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.
24. (countable, uncountable)A lighting fixture that can cast a wide beam of light to evenly fill an area with light, as opposed to a spotlight.
25. (countable, uncountable)A total failure; a washout.
26. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable)Acronym of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

name

1. A bay with multiple estuaries of great ecological importance in eastern England, dividing Lincolnshire from Norfolk.
2. A diminutive of the male given name Washington.