wash

Meanings

Verb

• To clean with water.
• To move or erode by the force of water in motion.
• To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
• To clean oneself with water.
• To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.
• To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.
• To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
• To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
• To bear without injury the operation of being washed.
• 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.
• To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
• To overlay with a thin coat of metal.
• To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
• To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.

Noun

• The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
• A liquid used for washing.
• A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
• The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
• A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
• The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.
• The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
• The blade of an oar.
• Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
• 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.
• A shallow body of water.
• In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi.
• A situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.
• 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.
• Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
• In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
• A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
• A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
• Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
• 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 lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.
• A lighting fixture that can cast a wide beam of light to evenly fill an area with light, as opposed to a spotlight.

Related

Similar words

• lavatory

Origin

• From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen, from Old English wasċan, from Proto-West Germanic *waskan, from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wed-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian waaske, West Frisian waskje, Dutch wassen, wasschen, Low German waschen, German waschen, Danish vaske, Norwegian Bokmål vaske, Swedish vaska, Icelandic vaska.