wash
UK /wɒʃ/ · US /wɑʃ/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms washes washing washed washen
- verb (transitive) To clean with water. “The car is so dirty, we need to wash it.”
- verb (transitive) To carry away or erode by the force of water in motion. “Don't pour that in the drain; it will wash downstream.”
- verb (intransitive) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
- verb (intransitive) To clean oneself with water. “I wash every morning after getting up.”
- verb (transitive) To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten. “Waves wash the shore.”
- verb (intransitive) To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash. “to hear the water washing”
- verb (intransitive) To withstand being washed without impairment, as clothing, especially dyed clothing.
- verb (intransitive, figuratively, chiefly in the negative) To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
- noun 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.”
- noun A liquid used for washing.
- noun A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties. “mouth wash”
- noun The quantity of clothes washed at a time. “There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.”
- noun (art) A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
- noun The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach. “I could hear the wash of the wave.”
- noun The bow wave or wake of a moving ship, or the vortex from its screws. “The ship left a big wash”
- noun The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
- proper noun (with the) A bay with multiple estuaries of great ecological importance in eastern England, dividing Lincolnshire from Norfolk.
- proper noun A diminutive of the male given name Washington.
Synonyms
dry wash arroyo wadi nahal washing lavation washout slipstream airstream race backwash wash drawing laundry washables rinse lave launder wash out wash off wash away moisten dampen lap
Etymology
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”).
Possibilities are discussed at The Wash § History.
Clipping of Washington.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cleanse by ablution, or dipping or rubbing in water; to apply water or other liquid to for the purpose of cleansing; to scrub with water, etc., or as with water; as, to wash the hands or body; to wash garments; to wash sheep or wool; to wash the pavement or floor; to wash the bark of trees.
- verb To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten; hence, to overflow or dash against; as, waves wash the shore.
- verb To perform the act of ablution.
- verb To clean anything by rubbing or dipping it in water; to perform the business of cleansing clothes, ore, etc., in water. "She can wash and scour." Shak.
Etymology [OE. waschen, AS. wascan; akin to D. wasschen, G. waschen, OHG. wascan, Icel. & Sw. vaska, Dan. vaske, and perhaps to E. water. sq. root150.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “wash”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details