For walls plaster gave a smooth white surface; or if it was not sufficiently white, or had become discoloured, it could be brightened up with a coat ofwhitewash or paint.
“She has developed an arrogance of power,” Mr. Richardson said by telephone during a layover in Tokyo on his way back to New Mexico from Myanmar. “I’ve known her a long time and am fond of her, but she basically is unwilling to listen to bad news, and I don’t want to be part of awhitewash.”
A report by the City watchdog into the scandal at Royal Bank of Scotland’s turnaround unit has been described as awhitewash after the regulator confirmed it would not punish the bank for mistreating business customers following the financial crash.
1883,Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, page lxxxiii:
The bottles, however, were port bottles, but contained mushroom ketchup; and we can only say with regard to the 15s. sherry, that it would have made an admirable "whitewash," as Sheridan's glass is still sometimes called,[…]
1950,Wine & the Wine Trade, page28:
Sercial was also used as a sort ofwhite-wash after the Port at dinner, those were the days when people had time to drink both Port and aWhite wash.
act of hiding mistakes or creating an appearance of honesty, propriety, etc.; campaign, investigation, etc., which intentionally hides or overlooks unfavourable facts
2015 August 6, Ernest Owens, “Hollywood, Don’t You Dare Whitewash Stonewall”, inHuffPost[4], archived fromthe original on16 April 2025:
If you appreciate historical accuracy and fair inclusion, don't go see this film[Stonewall (2015)]. If you don’t want to fuel the economy at another Hollywood attempt ofwhitewashing American history, don't give any aspect of this film a single dime or promotion.
Sofia Coppola'sThe Beguiled cuts the book's black characters,whitewashing its tale of the Civil War–era South. At this point, that's hardly a surprise.[subtitle]
FromScarlett Johansson's heroine in the remake of the anime classic toTilda Swinton as a Himalayan high priest inDoctor Strange, the film industry stands accused ofwhitewashing Asian characters and culture. Does it have a defence?[subtitle][…] Swinton replied that Dr Strange's writers were seeking to avoid the tired Orientalist stereotype of the "wise old Eastern geezer" or "Fu Manchu type".[…] In other words, it waswhitewashing in the name of diversity.
One ofNaomi Osaka's sponsors has been forced to apologise after depicting the Japanese tennis star, who is half-Haitian, with pale skin in an advertisement.[…] The company said it had not intended to "whitewash" the athlete,[…] The ad, which also features her compatriotKei Nishikori, drew criticism on social media, with many users accusing Nissin ofwhitewashing Osaka, whose mother is Japanese.
Meanwhile, Sam, having been formally introduced to thewhitewashed gentleman and his friends, as the offspring of Mr. Weller, of the Belle Savage, was treated with marked distinction, and invited to regale himself with them in honour of the occasion—an invitation which he was by no means backward in accepting.
Novv, Sir, vvhen my Time comes, leſt they ſhou'd think it vvorth vvhile to handle my Memory vvith the ſame Freedom, I am vvilling to prevent its being ſo odly beſmear'd (or at beſt but flatlyvvhite-vvash'd) by taking upon me to give the Publick This, as true a Picture of myſelf as natural Vanity vvill permit me to dravv;[…]
The books have yet to be written. But there is no question that Ms.Park[Geun-hye] and her Saenuri Party willwhitewash the past to bolster the conservative cause at the expense of the education system and South Korea's international reputation as a democracy, and harm Seoul's attempt to hold Japan accountable for its wartime conduct.
2024 January 6, Nick Robertson, “Fanone says GOP lawmakers attempt to ‘whitewash’ Jan. 6 due to ‘politically inconvenient’ reality”, inThe Hill[9], Washington, D.C.: Capitol Hill Publishing Company,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on12 August 2024:
“It pisses me off to see Republican lawmakers continue to spread the lies and conspiracy theories regarding January 6, in an attempt towhitewash that day, because it’s politically inconvenient for them to acknowledge the reality of what happened,”[Michael] Fanone said during an MSNBC interview Friday.
(transitive) to distort or give a misleading account of (history, a narrative, etc.) by discounting the participation of people of colour and focusing on white people
(transitive) to clear (someone’s) debts, especially through a declaration of bankruptcy by a court; (intransitive) to have debts cleared through a declaration of bankruptcy by a court
(transitive) to clear or write off (a debt)—seewrite off
(transitive) to hide (someone’s) mistakes, or to create an appearance of honesty, propriety, etc., for (someone); to intentionally hide or overlook (mistakes, unfavourable facts, wrongdoing, etc.)
(transitive) to achieve a complete victory or series of victories over (an opponent) without suffering any losses; to achieve a victory or series of victories over (an opponent) by a very large margin
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, Oxford:Oxford University Press, December 2024;“whitewash,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
whitewash on Wikipedia.Wikipedia