wash
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɒʃ/
ipa: /wɛʃ/
ipa: /wɑʃ/
ipa: /wɔʃ/
note: US, intrusive R
ipa: /wɔɹʃ/
ipa: /wæʃ/
rhymes: -ɒʃ
rhymes: -ɑːʃ
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ʃ
Forms: form: washes
form: washing
form: washed
form: washed
form: washen
Etymology: From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen, from Old English wascan, from Proto-West Germanic *waskan, from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną (“to wash, get wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“wet; water”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian waaske (“to wash”), West Frisian waskje (“to wash”), Dutch wassen, wasschen (“to wash”), Low German waschen (“to wash”), German waschen (“to wash”), Danish vaske (“to wash”), Norwegian Bokmål vaske (“to wash”), Swedish vaska (“to wash”), Icelandic vaska (“to wash”).
Senses: examples: text: The car is so dirty, we need to wash it.
text: Dishwashers wash dishes way more efficiently than most humans.
text: This new washing powder rlly washes bedclothes superwhite.
text: Wash the vegetables, drain off the surplus water, and pack them in a keg, crock, or other utensil until it is nearly full
ref: 1917, Lester Angell Round, Harold Locke Lang, Preservation of vegetables by fermentation and salting, page 9:
text: If using celery or okra, wash the vegetables in safe water.
ref: 1971, Homemaking Handbook: For Village Workers in Many Countries, page 101:
text: Wash the vegetables thoroughly; even a little dirt can contain bacteria. Wash vegetables individually under running water.
ref: 2010, Catherine Abbott, The Everything Grow Your Own Vegetables Book: Your Complete Guide to planting, tending, and harvesting vegetables, Everything Books, →ISBN, page 215:
glosses: To clean with water.
examples: text: Don't pour that in the drain; it will wash downstream.
text: Heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.
text: The flood washed away houses.
text: The remaining flotsam was washed ashore.
glosses: To carry away or erode by the force of water in motion.
glosses: To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
topics: business
mining
glosses: To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
examples: text: I wash every morning after getting up.
glosses: To clean oneself with water.
examples: text: Waves wash the shore.
text: fresh-blown roses washed with dew
ref: a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:
text: [the landscape] washed with a cold, grey mist
ref: 1858 October 16, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
glosses: To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.
examples: text: to hear the water washing
text: I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.
ref: 1870, Alfred Tennyson, “The Passing of Arthur”, in The Holy Grail and Other Poems, London: Strahan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 144:
glosses: To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.
examples: text: “And then, how could he know it was her coffee? No, old fellow, I don’t think that will wash.”
ref: 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 128:
text: 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."
ref: 1988 April 16, Chris Bull, “PWA Group Struggles To Reach People of Color”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
text: 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.
text: Claims of a lack of parliamentary time don't wash.
ref: 2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “Comment: GBR now! We have no Plan B”, in RAIL, number 984, page 3:
text: 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.
ref: 2025 September 9, David Smith, “The president doth protest too much: Trump’s denial on Epstein is backfiring”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
glosses: To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
examples: text: Some calicoes do not wash.
glosses: To bear without damage the operation of being washed; to be suitable for washing.
glosses: To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
examples: text: steel washed with silver
glosses: To overlay with a thin coat of metal.
glosses: To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
glosses: To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.
glosses: To mix up tiles (before a new game) to make them random; to shuffle.
Derived terms: acid-wash
ale-washed
all washed up
washed up
boil-wash
co-wash
dishwasher
fat-wash
hand-wash
hand wash
jetwash
jet-wash
machine wash
pen-and-wash
sunwashed
unwashed
wash a blackamoor white
wash and go
wash-and-wear
wash a negro white
wash away
wash-ball
wash down
washed in the blood
washed out
washer
washery
wash its face
wash off
wash one's brain out with soap
wash one's dirty laundry in public
wash one's dirty linen in public
wash oneself of
wash one's hands
wash one's hands of
wash one's mouth out
wash out
wash out one's mouth
wash over
wash up
wash with