wash

English Online Dictionary. What means wash‎? What does wash mean?

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɒʃ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɑʃ/
  • (US, some dialects) IPA^(key): /wɔʃ/
  • (US, intrusive r) IPA^(key): /wɔɹʃ/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /wæʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɒʃ
• Rhymes: -ɑːʃ
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ʃ

Verb

wash (third-person singular simple present washes, present participle washing, simple past washed, past participle washed or (archaic) washen)

1. To clean with water.
2. (transitive) To move or erode by the force of water in motion.

3. (mining) To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
4. (intransitive) To clean oneself with water.

5. (transitive) To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.
6. (intransitive) To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.
7. (intransitive) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
8. (intransitive, figuratively) To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
   • 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.
9. (intransitive) To bear without injury the operation of being washed.

10. (intransitive) 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.
11. To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
12. To overlay with a thin coat of metal.

13. (transitive) To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
14. (transitive) To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.

Usage notes

In older works and possibly still in some dialects, wesh and woosh may be found as past tense forms. Washen may be found as a past participle.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Swazi: washa

Translations

Noun

wash (countable and uncountable, plural washes)

1. The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.

2. A liquid used for washing.
3. A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.

4. The quantity of clothes washed at a time.

5. (art) A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
6. The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.
7. The bow wave, wake, or vortex of an object moving in a fluid, in particular:
   1. The bow wave or wake of a moving ship, or the vortex from its screws.
   2. The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
   3. The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
8. (nautical) The blade of an oar.
9. Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
10. 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.
11. A shallow body of water.
13. In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi.

    Hyponyms: Black Mesa Wash, Chinle Wash, Dinnebito Wash, Moenkopi Wash, Oljato Wash, Oraibi Wash, Pacoima Wash, Polacca Wash, Tujunga Wash, Wepo Wash

    • 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”)
14. A situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.
15. (finance, slang) 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.
16. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
17. In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
18. A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
19. A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
20. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
21. (architecture) 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.

22. (television) A lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.
23. (stagecraft) A lighting fixture that can cast a wide beam of light to evenly fill an area with light, as opposed to a spotlight.

Synonyms

• lavatory

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

References

Anagrams

• Haws, Shaw, Wahs, haws, shaw, shwa, wahs