wash
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
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
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: I'm going to have a quick wash before coming to bed.
text: My jacket needs a wash.
glosses: The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
glosses: A liquid used for washing.
examples: text: mouth wash
text: hand wash
glosses: A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
examples: text: There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.
glosses: The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
topics: art
arts
glosses: A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
examples: text: I could hear the wash of the wave.
text: […] the wind in the cordage and the wash of the sea helped the more to put them beyond earshot […]
ref: 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:
text: 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.
ref: 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 192:
glosses: The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.
examples: text: The ship left a big wash
text: Sail away from the wash to avoid rocking the boat.
text: To date, much of the research undertaken on high-speed vessel wake wash has appeared only as unpublished reports for various authorities and management agencies.
ref: 2003, Guidelines for Managing Wake Wash from High-speed Vessels: Report of Working Group 41 of the Maritime Navigation Commission, PIANC, →ISBN, page 5:
glosses: The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
The bow wave or wake of a moving ship, or the vortex from its screws.
glosses: The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
glosses: The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The blade of an oar.
examples: text: The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, […]where rain water hath a long time settled.
ref: 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:
glosses: Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
examples: text: These Lincoln washes have devoured them.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]:
glosses: 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.
glosses: A shallow body of water.
examples: text: 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”)
text: ...though the wash may carry surface water for only a few hours a year.
ref: 1999, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert:
text: 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
ref: 2005, Le Hayes, Pilgrims in the Desert: The Early History of the East Mojave Desert:
glosses: In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2003, David Brenner, I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup, page 100:
glosses: A situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.
topics: business
finance
glosses: 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.
glosses: Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
glosses: In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1793, Bryan Edwards, History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies:
glosses: A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
glosses: A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
glosses: Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
examples: text: a carriage wash in a stable
topics: architecture
glosses: 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.
topics: broadcasting
media
television
glosses: A lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.
glosses: A lighting fixture that can cast a wide beam of light to evenly fill an area with light, as opposed to a spotlight.
glosses: total failure, a washout
Synonyms: lavatory
Derived terms: arsewash
awash
backwash
Black Mesa Wash
blackwash
body wash
boil wash
brainwash
by-wash
carwash
car wash
Chinle Wash
colourwash
come out in the wash
Dinnebito Wash
downwash
dry wash
egg wash
eyewash
greenwash
gully wash
handwash
hand wash
hogwash
hot wash
Moenkopi Wash
mouthwash
Oljato Wash
Oraibi Wash
outwash
Pacoima Wash
paste-wash
pigwash
pinkwash
Polacca Wash
pommie wash
power wash
prewash
prop wash
rainwash
rewash
sheep wash
sheepwash
stonewash
Tujunga Wash
wash and brushup
wash barrel
wash basket
wash bottle
wash-gilding
washhouse
wash house
wash leather
wash line
washout
wash room
wash sale
wash trade
wash trading
Wepo Wash
wheel wash
whitewash
wish-wash
yellow wash
Related terms: english: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
translation: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
word: WASH