FromMiddle Englishwasshen,waschen,weschen, fromOld Englishwascan, fromProto-West Germanic*waskan, fromProto-Germanic*waskaną,*watskaną(“to wash, get wet”), fromProto-Indo-European*wed-(“wet; water”).

Cognate withSaterland Frisianwaaske(“to wash”),West Frisianwaskje(“to wash”),Dutchwassen,wasschen(“to wash”),Low Germanwaschen(“to wash”),Germanwaschen(“to wash”),Danishvaske(“to wash”),Norwegian Bokmålvaske(“to wash”),Swedishvaska(“to wash”),Icelandicvaska(“to wash”).

• (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/wɒʃ/

  • Audio(UK):

    (file)

• (General American)IPA^(key):/wɑʃ/

  • Audio(US):

    (file)

  • (US, some dialects)IPA^(key):/wɔʃ/
  • (US,intrusiver)IPA^(key):/wɔɹʃ/
• (obsolete)IPA^(key):/wæʃ/^[1]
• Rhymes:-ɒʃ
• Rhymes:-ɑːʃ
• Rhymes:-ɔː(ɹ)ʃ

wash (third-person singular simple presentwashes,present participlewashing,simple pastwashed,past participlewashedor(archaic)washen)

1. To clean withwater.

   The car is so dirty, we need towash it.

   Dishwasherswash dishes much more efficiently than most humans.

   • 1917, Lester Angell Round, Harold Locke Lang,Preservation of vegetables by fermentation and salting, page 9:

     Wash the vegetables, drain off the surplus water, and pack them in a keg, crock, or other utensil until it is nearly full

   • 1971,Homemaking Handbook: For Village Workers in Many Countries, page101:

     If using celery or okra,wash the vegetables in safe water.

   • 2010, Catherine Abbott,The Everything Grow Your Own Vegetables Book: Your Complete Guide to planting, tending, and harvesting vegetables, Everything Books,→ISBN, page215:

     Wash the vegetables thoroughly; even a little dirt can contain bacteria.Wash vegetables individually under running water.

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

   Heavy rainswash a road or an embankment.

   The floodwashed away houses.

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.

   Iwash every morning after getting up.

5. (transitive) To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.

   Waveswash the shore.

   • a.1645,John Milton, “L’Allegro”, inPoems of Mr. John Milton, […], London:[…] Ruth Raworth forHumphrey Mosely, […], published1646,→OCLC:

     fresh-blown roseswashed with dew

   • 1858 October 16,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, inThe Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.:Ticknor and Fields,→OCLC:

     [the landscape]washed with a cold, grey mist

6. (intransitive) To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.

   to hear the waterwashing

   • 1870,Alfred Tennyson, “The Passing of Arthur”, inThe Holy Grail and Other Poems, London:Strahan and Co., […],→OCLC,page144:

     I heard the ripplewashing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.

7. (intransitive) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
8. (intransitive,figuratively) To becogent,convincing; to withstand critique.
   • 1988 April 16, Chris Bull, “PWA Group Struggles To Reach People of Color”, inGay Community News, page12:

     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'twash," 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—hardlywashes.

   • 2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “Comment: GBR now! We have no Plan B”, inRAIL, number984, page 3:

     Claims of a lack of parliamentary time don'twash.

9. (intransitive) To bear without injury the operation of being washed.

   Some calicoes do notwash.

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.

    steelwashed with silver

13. (transitive) To causedephosphorization of (moltenpig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
14. (transitive) To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over aliquid for the purpose ofpurifying it, especially by removingsolubleconstituents.

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

• → Swazi:washa

wash (countable anduncountable,pluralwashes)

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

   I'm going to have a quickwash before coming to bed.

   My jacket needs awash.

2. A liquid used for washing.
3. Alotion or other liquid with medicinal orhygienic properties.

   mouthwash

   handwash

4. The quantity of clothes washed at a time.

   There's a lot in thatwash: maybe you should split it into two piles.

5. (art) A smooth andtranslucentpainting created using apaintbrush holding a large amount ofsolvent and a small amount ofpaint.
6. The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.

   I could hear thewash of the wave.

   • 1924,Herman Melville, chapter 16, inBilly Budd‎^[2], London: Constable & Co.:

     […] the wind in the cordage and thewash of the sea helped the more to put them beyond earshot[…]

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay,Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.:Ure Smith, published1962,→OCLC, page192:

     Bradly posed Cora against the incessantly moving patterns of thewash and set to work with nervous haste, alarmed at the difficult problem of water in movement.

7. Thebow wave,wake, orvortex 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.

      The ship left a bigwash

      Sail away from thewash to avoid rocking the boat.

      • 2003,Guidelines for Managing WakeWash from High-speed Vessels: Report of Working Group 41 of the Maritime Navigation Commission, PIANC,→ISBN, page 5:

        To date, much of the research undertaken on high-speed vessel wakewash has appeared only as unpublished reports for various authorities and management agencies.

   2. Theturbulence 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) Theblade of anoar.
9. Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
   • 1707,J[ohn] Mortimer,The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London:[…] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […],→OCLC:

     Thewash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads,[…]where rain water hath a long time settled.

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, abog; amarsh.
    • c.1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act V, scene vi]:

      These Lincolnwashes have devoured them.

11. A shallow body of water.
13. In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; anarroyo orwadi.

    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”)

    • 1999, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum,A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert:

      ...though thewash may carry surface water for only a few hours a year.

    • 2005, Le Hayes,Pilgrims in the Desert: The Early History of the East Mojave Desert:

      Rock SpringWash continues a short distance then joins WatsonWash. Water from Rock Spring comes out of the boulder strewnwash and disappears into the sand

14. A situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.
    • 2003,David Brenner,I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup, page100:

      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 awash or close to it.

15. (finance,slang) Afictitious kind ofsale ofstock or othersecurities betweenparties of oneinterest, or by abroker who is bothbuyer andseller, 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. Indistilling, thefermentedwort before thespirit is extracted.
18. A mixture ofdunder,molasses, water, andscummings, used in theWest Indies fordistillation.
    • 1793,Bryan Edwards,History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies:

      In order to augment the vinosity of thewash, many substances are recommended by Dr. Shaw, such as tartar, nitre, common salt, and the vegetable or mineral acids.

19. A thincoat ofpaint ormetal laid on anything forbeauty orpreservation.
20. Tenstrikes, orbushels, ofoysters.
21. (architecture) The upper surface of amember or material when given a slope to shed water; hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water.

    a carriagewash in a stable

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

• lavatory

• WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

• Haws,Shaw,Wahs,haws,shaw,shwa,wahs