Wash

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              These Lincoln washes have devoured them. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Substances collected and deposited by the action of water;
        as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads,
              where rain water hath a long time settled.
                                                    --Mortimer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from
        washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food
        for pigs. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared,
        tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically: 
        [1913 Webster]
        (a) A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.
            [1913 Webster]
        (b) A liquid dentifrice.
            [1913 Webster]
        (c) A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash.
            [1913 Webster]
        (d) A medical preparation in a liquid form for external
            application; a lotion.
            [1913 Webster]
        (e) (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color.
            [1913 Webster]
        (j) A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any
            object, for beauty or preservation; -- called also
            {washing}.
            [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     8. The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a
        wave; also, the sound of it.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     9. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters. [Prov. Eng.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
             [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     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.]
         [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     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.
         [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     13. an action or situation in which the gains and losses are
         equal, or closely compensate each other.
         [PJC]
  
     14. (Aeronautics) the disturbance of the air left behind in
         the wake of a moving airplane or one of its parts.
         [PJC]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wash \Wash\, v. i.
     1. To perform the act of ablution.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Wash in Jordan seven times.           --2 Kings v.
                                                    10.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as,
        some calicoes do not wash. [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. To use washes, as for the face or hair.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     6. To move with a lapping or swashing sound, or the like; to
        lap; splash; as, to hear the water washing.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     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 [gcide]:

  Wash \Wash\, a.
     1. Washy; weak. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper. --Beau. &
                                                    Fl.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash
        goods. [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wash
       n 1: a thin coat of water-base paint
       2: the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water) [syn: {washing},
           {lavation}]
       3: the dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a
          canyon) [syn: {dry wash}]
       4: the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water
          (as from a roadway); "from the house they watched the
          washout of their newly seeded lawn by the water" [syn: {washout}]
       5: the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft
          propeller [syn: {slipstream}, {airstream}, {race}, {backwash}]
       6: a watercolor made by applying a series of monochrome washes
          one over the other [syn: {wash drawing}]
       7: garments or white goods that can be cleaned by laundering
          [syn: {laundry}, {washing}, {washables}]
       8: any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out; "at the
          end of the year the accounting department showed that it
          was a wash"
       v 1: clean with some chemical process [syn: {rinse}]
       2: cleanse (one's body) with soap and water [syn: {lave}]
       3: cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water;
          "Wash the towels, please!" [syn: {launder}]
       4: move by or as if by water; "The swollen river washed away
          the footbridge"
       5: be capable of being washed; "Does this material wash?"
       6: admit to testing or proof; "This silly excuse won't wash in
          traffic court"
       7: separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)
       8: apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to
       9: remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap
          or some other cleaning agent; "he washed the dirt from his
          coat"; "The nurse washed away the blood"; "Can you wash
          away the spots on the windows?"; "he managed to wash out
          the stains" [syn: {wash out}, {wash off}, {wash away}]
       10: form by erosion; "The river washed a ravine into the
           mountainside"
       11: make moist; "The dew moistened the meadows" [syn: {moisten},
            {dampen}]
       12: wash or flow against; "the waves laved the shore" [syn: {lave},
            {lap}]
       13: to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking; "The cat
           washes several times a day"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  303 Moby Thesaurus words for "wash":
     ablution, abstergent, acrylic painting, apply paint, aquarelle,
     babble, backwash, baptize, bath, bathe, baygall, be consistent,
     be the case, be true, be truthful, bedaub, bedizen, begild,
     besmear, bog, bottom, bottomland, bottoms, brew, brush on paint,
     bubble, buffalo wallow, burble, calcimine, canvas, cathartic,
     chromogen, cleaner, cleaning agent, cleaning out, cleaning solvent,
     cleanser, cleansing cream, coat, coat of paint, coating,
     cold cream, color, color filter, color gelatin, colorant, coloring,
     complexion, condensation trail, conform to fact, contrail, cover,
     cream, dab, daub, dead-color, deep-dye, dentifrice, depurant,
     detergent, dip, distemper, diuretic, double-dye, douche, douching,
     drench, drier, drouk, dye, dyestuff, easel-picture, elution,
     elutriation, emblazon, emetic, enamel, encaustic cerography,
     encaustic painting, enema, engild, everglade, exhaust,
     exterior paint, face, fast-dye, fen, fenland, finger painting,
     flat coat, flat wash, float, floor enamel, flower painting, flush,
     flush out, flushing, flushing out, fresco, fresco painting, gargle,
     genre painting, gild, glade, glaze, gloss, gouache, grain,
     grisaille, ground, guggle, gurgle, hog wallow, hold, hold good,
     hold together, hold true, hold up, hold water, holm, holystone,
     hue, illuminate, illumination, illustration, imbrue, imbue,
     impasto, impregnate, infiltrate, infuse, ingrain, inject,
     interior paint, irrigate, irrigation, japan, lacquer, lap, lapping,
     lather, lathering, launder, laundering, laundry, lavabo, lavage,
     lavation, lave, laving, lay on color, leach, lip, lixiviate,
     lotion, macerate, marais, marish, marsh, marshland, meadow, medium,
     mere, mire, monochrome, moor, moorland, mop, mop up, mopping,
     mopping up, morass, moss, mouthwash, mud, mud flat, mural painting,
     nauseant, oil, oil painting, opaque color, paint, painting, parget,
     peat bog, percolate, permeate, picturization, pigment, plash,
     portraiture, poster painting, prime, prime coat, primer, priming,
     prove out, prove to be, prove true, pumice stone, purgative, purge,
     purifier, purl, quagmire, quicksand, remain valid, ride, rinse,
     rinse out, rinsing, ripple, ritually immerse, salt marsh, saturate,
     scour, scouring, scrub, scrub up, scrubbing, scrubbing up, seethe,
     shade, shadow, shampoo, shellac, shower, slob land, slop on paint,
     slosh, slough, sluice, sluice out, smear, soak, soap, soaping,
     sodden, solvent, sop, sough, souse, splash, sponge, sponging,
     stain, stand the test, stand up, steep, stick together, stipple,
     stream, sump, swab, swabbing, swale, swamp, swampland, swash,
     swish, synthetic detergent, syringe, taiga, tempera, the brush,
     thinner, tinct, tinction, tincture, tinge, tint, toivel, tone,
     tooth powder, toothpaste, track, transparent color, trill, tub,
     tubbing, turpentine, turps, undercoat, undercoating, vapor trail,
     varnish, vehicle, vortex, wake, wallow, wash coat, wash drawing,
     wash out, wash up, washday, washing, washing up, washout, washup,
     water, waterlog, whitewash, wiping up