Dictionary definitions
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wash
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wash \Wash\ (w[o^]sh), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Washed; p. pr. & vb. n. Washing.] [OE. waschen, AS. wascan; akin to D. wasschen, G. waschen, OHG. wascan, Icel. & Sw. vaska, Dan. vaske, and perhaps to E. water. [root]150.] 1. 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. [1913 Webster] When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, . . . he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. --Matt. xxvii. 24. [1913 Webster] 2. 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. [1913 Webster] Fresh-blown roses washed with dew. --Milton. [1913 Webster] [The landscape] washed with a cold, gray mist. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] 3. To waste or abrade by the force of water in motion; as, heavy rains wash a road or an embankment. [1913 Webster] 4. To remove by washing to take away by, or as by, the action of water; to drag or draw off as by the tide; -- often with away, off, out, etc.; as, to wash dirt from the hands. [1913 Webster] Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins. --Acts xxii. 16. [1913 Webster] The tide will wash you off. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 5. To cover with a thin or watery coat of color; to tint lightly and thinly. [1913 Webster] 6. To overlay with a thin coat of metal; as, steel washed with silver. [1913 Webster] 7. To cause dephosphorisation of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 8. To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, esp. by removing soluble constituents. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] To wash gold, etc., to treat earth or gravel, or crushed ore, with water, in order to separate the gold or other metal, or metallic ore, through their higher density. To wash the hands of. See under Hand. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wash \Wash\, v. i.
1. To perform the act of ablution.
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Wash in Jordan seven times. --2 Kings v.
10.
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2. 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.
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3. To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as,
some calicoes do not wash. [Colloq.]
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4. 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.
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5. To use washes, as for the face or hair.
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6. To move with a lapping or swashing sound, or the like; to
lap; splash; as, to hear the water washing.
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7. to be accepted as true or valid; to be proven true by
subsequent evidence; -- usually used in the negative; as,
his alibi won't wash. [informal]
[PJC]
.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wash \Wash\, n.
1. The act of washing; an ablution; a cleansing, wetting, or
dashing with water; hence, a quantity, as of clothes,
washed at once.
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2. A piece of ground washed by the action of a sea or river,
or sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the
shallowest part of a river, or arm of the sea; also, a
bog; a marsh; a fen; as, the washes in Lincolnshire. "The
Wash of Edmonton so gay." --Cowper.
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These Lincoln washes have devoured them. --Shak.
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3. Substances collected and deposited by the action of water;
as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc.
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The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads,
where rain water hath a long time settled.
--Mortimer.
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4. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from
washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food
for pigs. --Shak.
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5. (Distilling)
(a) The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
(b) A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings,
used in the West Indies for distillation. --B.
Edwards.
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6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared,
tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically:
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(a) A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.
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(b) A liquid dentifrice.
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(c) A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash.
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(d) A medical preparation in a liquid form for external
application; a lotion.
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(e) (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color.
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(j) A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any
object, for beauty or preservation; -- called also
washing.
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7. (Naut.)
(a) The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the
water.
(b) The backward current or disturbed water caused by the
action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles,
etc.
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8. The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a
wave; also, the sound of it.
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9. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters. [Prov. Eng.]
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10. [Western U. S.] (Geol.)
(a) Gravel and other rock d['e]bris transported and
deposited by running water; coarse alluvium.
(b) An alluvial cone formed by a stream at the base of a
mountain.
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11. The dry bed of an intermittent stream, sometimes at the
bottom of a canyon; as, the Amargosa wash, Diamond wash;
-- called also dry wash. [Western U. S.]
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12. (Arch.) 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,
as a carriage wash in a stable.
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13. an action or situation in which the gains and losses are
equal, or closely compensate each other.
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14. (Aeronautics) the disturbance of the air left behind in
the wake of a moving airplane or one of its parts.
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Wash ball, a ball of soap to be used in washing the hands
or face. --Swift.
Wash barrel (Fisheries), a barrel nearly full of split
mackerel, loosely put in, and afterward filled with salt
water in order to soak the blood from the fish before
salting.
Wash bottle. (Chem.)
(a) A bottle partially filled with some liquid through
which gases are passed for the purpose of purifying
them, especially by removing soluble constituents.
(b) A washing bottle. See under Washing.
Wash gilding. See Water gilding.
Wash leather, split sheepskin dressed with oil, in
imitation of chamois, or shammy, and used for dusting,
cleaning glass or plate, etc.; also, alumed, or buff,
leather for soldiers' belts.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wash \Wash\, a.
1. Washy; weak. [Obs.]
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Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper. --Beau. &
Fl.
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2. Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash
goods. [Colloq.]
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