Dictionary Definition
wash
Noun
1 a thin coat of water-base paint
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]
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"
Verb
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"
13 to cleanse (itself or another animal) by
licking; "The cat washes several times a day"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From wæscan (cognate with Dutch wassen and German waschen)Pronunciation
- /wɑʃ/ (US) or /wɒʃ/ (UK)
- /wAS/ (US) or /wQS>/ (UK)
- Rhymes: -ɒʃ
Verb
- To clean with water.
- To move by the force of water in motion (as in the flood washed away houses).
- To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
- (intransitive) To clean oneself with water.
- (intransitive) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
to clean with water
- Albanian: lan
- Catalan: rentar
- Classical Nahuatl: pāca
- Crimean Tatar: yuvmaq
- Croatian: umiti
- Czech: mýt (dishes), prát (laundry)
- Danish: vaske
- Dutch: wassen
- Esperanto: lavi
- Finnish: pestä, tiskata, pyykätä
- French: laver
- German: waschen, spülen
- Greek: πλένω
- Hebrew: לרחוץ (lirhotz), לשטוף (lishtof)
- Hungarian: mos
- Icelandic: þvo
- Irish: nigh
- Italian: lavare
- Japanese: 洗う (あらう, arau)
- Kurdish:
- Sorani: شوشتن
- Old English: þwēan
- Old High German: dwahan
- Old Norse: þvó
- Persian: شستن
- Rohingya: dúo
- Romanian: a spăla
- Romany: thovel
- Russian: мыть (myt’)
- Scottish Gaelic: nigh
- Spanish: lavar
- Swedish: tvätta
- Telugu: కడుగు (kaDugu)
- Turkish: yıkamak
to move by the force of water in motion
- Finnish: huuhtoa
- German: wegspülen
to separate valuable material
- Finnish: huuhtoa
to clean oneself
- Finnish: peseytyä
- Greek: πλένομαι
- Irish: nigh
- Italian: lavarsi
- Kurdish:
- Sorani: خۆ شوشتن
to be eroded
- Finnish: huuhtoutua
Noun
- The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
- A liquid used for washing.
- The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
- The sound of breaking of the seas, e.g., on the shore.
- The wake of a moving ship.
- The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
- A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
- Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
- A shallow body of water.
- In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an
intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo; wadi
- 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 the wash 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 Spring Wash continues a short distance then joins Watson Wash. Water from Rock Spring comes out of the boulder strewn wash and disappears into the sand
- 1997, Stanley Desmond Smith, et al. Physiological Ecology of
North American Desert Plants, Nature
- A lack of progress
or regress; no change
- His first week at the new job was a wash, since he spent so much time learning the system instead of using it.
Derived terms
Translations
process or an instance of washing or being
washed by water
- Finnish: pesu
clothes washed at a time
- Finnish: pyykki
wake of a ship
- Finnish: vanavesi, peräaalto
turbulence left by airplane
- Finnish: jättöpyörre
lotion
ground washed away to the sea or a river
- Finnish: huuhtouma
shallow body of water
- Finnish: matalikko
the normally dry bed of an intermittent or
ephemeral stream - a wadi
- French: oeud
lack of progress
Extensive Definition
Wash may refer to:
- Wash (creek), a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain
- WASH, a Clear Channel Communications radio station
- Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages
- Wash (Firefly), a fictional character who originated in the science fiction television series, Firefly
- Wash (painting), a light covering of diluted paint on a painting
- Wash (Prison Break episode), 40th episode of American television series Prison Break
- The Wash, the square-mouthed estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia
- The Wash (film), a hip-hop styled film,
- "Wash (song)", a Pearl Jam song
- Wash is a slang for crack cocaine
See also
wash in Simple English: Wash
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
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