wash
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: architecture
art
arts
broadcasting
business
chemistry
finance
media
mining
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
television
transport
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *wed-
Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti
Proto-Indo-European *wodsḱéti
Proto-Germanic *waskaną
Proto-West Germanic *waskan
Old English wascan
Middle English wasshen
English wash
From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen (“to wash”), from Old English wascan (“to wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *waskan (“to wash”), 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”), Faroese and Icelandic vaska (“to wash”), Norwegian Bokmål vaske (“to wash”), Norwegian Nynorsk vaske, vaska (“to wash”), Swedish vaska (“to wash”).
The noun is cognate with Saterland Frisian Waaske (“wash”), West Frisian wask (“wash”), Dutch was (“wash”), Low German Wask, Waske (“wash”), German Wäsche (“wash”), Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish vask (“wash”).
Inflected forms:
form: washes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: washing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: washed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: washed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: washen
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
past
form: washes
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To clean with water.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Wash the vegetables thoroughly; even a little dirt can contain bacteria. Wash vegetables individually under running water.
gloss: To carry away or erode by the force of water in motion.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To clean oneself with water.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I wash every morning after getting up.
gloss: To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Waves wash the shore.
fresh-blown roses washed with dew
[the landscape] washed with a cold, grey mist
gloss: To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: to hear the water washing
I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.
gloss: To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: “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.
gloss: To bear without damage the operation of being washed; to be suitable for washing.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Some calicoes do not wash.
gloss: To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To overlay with a thin coat of metal.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: steel washed with silver
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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[…]
gloss: To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
pos: verb
gloss: To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To mix up tiles (before a new game) to make them random; to shuffle.
pos: verb
gloss: The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I'm going to have a quick wash before coming to bed.
My jacket needs a wash.
gloss: A liquid used for washing.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: mouth wash
hand wash
gloss: The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.
gloss: A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The blade of an oar.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, […]where rain water hath a long time settled.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: These Lincoln washes have devoured them.
gloss: A shallow body of water.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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
gloss: A situation in which gains and losses or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent, or in which there is no net change.
pos: noun
tags: countable
idiomatic
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
gloss: Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: a carriage wash in a stable
gloss: A lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A lighting fixture that can cast a wide beam of light to evenly fill an area with light, as opposed to a spotlight.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A total failure; a washout.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
Related words: WASH
Derived words: acid-wash
ale-washed
all washed up
washed up
boil-wash
co-wash
dishwasher
fat-wash
hand-wash
jetwash
jet-wash
machine wash
pen-and-wash
sunwashed
unwashed
wash a blackamoor white
wash and go
wash and squash
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
hand wash
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
earthwash
egg wash
eyewash
greenwash
gully wash
handwash
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
wash machine
washout
wash room
wash sale
wash trade
wash trading
Wepo Wash
wheel wash
whitewash
wish-wash
yellow wash
Translations: