| 释义 |
▪ I. wash, n.|wɒʃ|
Forms: 5 wesche, wesshe, 5–6 was(c)he, 6 wasch, wasshe, wesch, Sc. weische, 7–9 dial. wesh, 7– wash.
[f. wash v. in many unconnected applications. OE. had wæsc (sense 2) and ᵹewæsc ‘alluvio’ (sense 6). Cf. OHG. wasga fem. (MHG., early mod.G. wasche), wesga, weska fem. (MHG. wesche, mod.G. wäsche); also MHG., mod.G. wasch masc., mod.G. wäsch neut.]
I. Act of washing.
1. a. gen. An act or process of washing or cleansing with water. Also fig.
1663Tuke Adv. Five Hours i. 2 The Blemish once received, no Wash is good For stains of Honor, but th' Offenders blood. 1666Sancroft Lex Ignea 41 A Baptism in Reserve, a Wash for all our Sins. Mod. This table needs a wash. I am going to give the dog a wash.
b. An act of washing oneself, esp. of washing one's hands and face. wash and brush-up, a quick wash together with a tidying of one's hair; also transf., and as v. trans. and intr.
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Doubts & F. ii, While sleepy lackeys..are crawling down the second staircase to breakfast, before the wash. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. vii, Mind you take care, young man, and get first wash. 1852C. B. Mansfield Paraguay etc. (1856) 89 Next morning,..after a wash in a neighbouring rivulet,..we started again. 1872Gentl. Mag. June 722 We must have a wash..and eat some breakfast. 1899E. W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman 31 We must have a wash-and-brush-up before we go,—for I'm as black as your boot. 1910W. E. Beet Rise Papacy iii. 138 The Patriarch of Antioch appeared on the scene, and..without waiting for a wash and change of raiment, proceeded to hold a Council of his own. 1912‘R. Andom’ On Tour with Troddles ix. 62 What we really did want was a wash and a brush up, with a good substantial meal to follow. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock iii. i. 107, I had to have a wash and brush up. 1941Vogue June 58/2 Wash-and-brush-up your face... Creams are rationed and soap is not. 1956G. Durrell Drunken Forest v. 98 The cockroach ambled about for a bit and then stopped for a quick wash and brush-up. 1959G. Mitchell Man who grew Tomatoes i. 10 I'll wash and brush up, as they say, and be down in ten minutes. 1978R. H. Lewis Antiquarian Bks. viii. 167 Most old books in for rebinding have an automatic ‘wash and brush-up’..before getting decked out in their new finery.
2. a. An act, spell, or task of washing clothes or other textile articles; the process of washing undergone by clothes or the like. (to be lost, damaged, etc.) in the wash, in course of being washed. (to be) at the wash, of clothes, etc., sent away to be washed.
[c1050Glosses on De Consuetudine Monachorum in Anglia XIII. 441 Vestimentorum ablutio, reafa wæsc.] 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 3981/4 Stolen..Wearing Linen from the Wash. 1813Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) X. 56 The packet arrived at so late an hour..and our shirts being at the wash as usual, we did not leave Lisbon till the 20th. a1814Fam. Politics iv. i, in New Brit. Theatre II. 230, I was going to pull it [a gown] to pieces for the wash. 1832Marryat N. Forster iii, It returned from the wash. 1838Dickens O. Twist viii, Ah, you're a-staring at the pocket-handkerchiefs... We've just looked 'em out, ready for the wash. 1840― Old C. Shop xli, This objection, and a great many others, founded on certain articles of dress being at the wash,..were overcome by Kit. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xi, Mrs. Bute, who knew how many days the sirloin of beef lasted at the Hall; how much linen was got ready at the great wash [etc.]. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton i. Though she may have done a hard day's wash, there's not [etc.]. 1876E. Jenkins Blot Queen's Head 26 You mark their linen ‘Empress's Crown Hotel’, and our linen ‘Queen's Inn’... What if they get mixed in the wash?
b. concr. The quantity of clothes or other textile articles washed (or set apart to be washed) on one occasion.
1789New Lond. Mag. Apr. 224/1 The apprehension of [several people]..for stealing a whole wash of wet linen. 1857Dickens Dorrit i. xxii, In this yard a wash of sheets and tablecloths tried..to get itself dried on a line or two. 1889Mrs. H. L. Cameron Lost Wife I. i. 7 The family wash..flutters gracefully in the breeze. 1898Hamblen Gen. Manager's Story xvii. 268 The native women having a custom..of taking in the wash before dark. 1914Mary R. Rinehart K iii. (1915) 35 Where her aunt..was hanging out the week's wash of table linen.
¶c. pl. App. used (after G. wäsche) for: Washable articles of apparel, body-linen.
1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. II. 139 She took special heed to pack up her clothes and washes with her own hands.
d. fig. phr. to come out in the wash: (of the truth) to be revealed, become clear; (of a situation, events, etc.) to be resolved or put right eventually. Cf. washing vbl. n. 8 a.
1903Kipling Five Nations 196 An' it all went into the laundry, But it never came out in the wash. 1917Wodehouse Man with Two Left Feet ii. 29 A sort of fate, what?.. Heredity, and so forth. What's bred in the bone will come out in the wash. 1930‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Ten Creeks Run xxii. 266 That scandal has been such a long time comin' out in the wash that you must have been mistaken. 1943N. Coward This Happy Breed ii. i. 53 Ethel:..I thought everything was going to be all right... Frank: Don't worry, old girl, it'll all come out in the wash. 1947‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder vii. 145 ‘How on earth could Bill know?’.. ‘Oh, well, it'll all come out in the wash, no doubt.’ 1971J. R. L. Anderson Reckoning in Ice vii. 147 When it all comes out in the wash—if it does—I suppose the company will meet our fees. 1978J. Dunn in Hookway & Pettit Action & Interpretation 161 All human scientists..practise in the fond hope that the deficiencies of description or the errors and gaps in the intelligibility of record will all come out in the wash.
3. A washing with some liquid for the purpose of producing a particular effect; a liquid preparation used or intended to be used in this manner.
a. A medicinal lotion. (The word suggests the use of liquid in somewhat larger quantity than is implied by lotion.)
black wash, yellow wash: various liquid preparations of mercury for application to ulcers or to the skin in eruptive diseases. white wash: dilute liquor of subacetate of lead.
1626Bacon Sylva §757 [Try] whether Children may not haue some Wash, or Some thing to make their Teeth Better, and Stronger? 1672Wycherley Love in Wood iv. ii, My eyes are none of the best since I have used the last new wash of mercury-water. 1697Tryon Way to Health xviii. (ed. 3) 409 There are many various things..prescribed by Physicians..as Washes, etc., to preserve the Teeth and Gums. 1732Fielding Mock Doctor iv, The doctor, with a sort of wash, wash'd her tongue 'till he set it agoing. 1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 572, I tried a variety of ointments and washes, but without deriving any material benefit from their use. 1828Lancet 16 Feb. 717/1 The employment of yellow wash (a solution of oxymuriate of mercury in lime water) was recommended. Ibid. 732/2 The calomel and lime water, known by the name of the black wash. 1849Pereira Elem. Mat. Med. (ed. 3) I. 838 Lotio nigra... Black Wash. Ibid. 839 Lotio flava... Yellow or Phagedenic Wash. 1850Reece's Med. Guide (ed. 17) 557 Milk, so frequently employed by nurses as a wash in these cases, by turning sour on the part, often excites fresh irritation. 1871Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 117 Externally, when freely diluted, liquor potassæ may be employed as a wash in some chronic skin disorders.
b. A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.
Very common in the 17–18th c.; now chiefly Hist.
1639Massinger Unnat. Combat iv. ii, These are perfum'd too, Of the Roman wash. 1649Lovelace Lucasta 146 No Cabinets with curious Washes, Bladders and perfumed Plashes [are here]. 1676Shadwell Virtuoso iii. 49 All manner of Washes, Almond-water, and Mercury-water for the Complexion. 1693Dryden Juvenal vi. 605 Her Cheeks as smooth as Silk; Are polish'd with a Wash of Asses Milk. 1706Farquhar Recruit. Officer i. ii, I need..no Harts-horn for my Head, nor Wash for my Complexion. 1735Pope Ep. Lady 54 Narcissa's nature, tolerably mild, To make a wash, would hardly stew a child. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. vi, They were making a wash for the face. Washes of all kinds I had a natural antipathy to; for I knew that instead of mending the complexion they spoiled it. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. x. (Rtldg.) 364, I know how to make washes and creams for the ladies' faces. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. vi, The box..contained—not papers regarding the conspiracy—but my lady's wigs, washes, and rouge-pots. 1860All Year Round No. 49. 531 Pure soft water is the truest beauty wash.
fig.a1625Fletcher Nice Valour iii. iii, There is no handsomenesse, But has a wash of Pride and Luxury. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 224 Th' artificial Wash of Eloquence Is daub'd in vain upon the clearest Sense. 1689Collier Ess. Pride 56 Conceit, when it is Corrected with a mixture of Gravity, is an admirable Wash, and will make one look as Wise, and as Great as you would wish.
c. A liquid applied to the hair to alter its colour, to impart smoothness, or to promote growth. Now chiefly Hist., exc. in hair-wash.
a1668R. Lassels Italy (1698) I. 60 They dry their hair in the sun, after they have washed it in a certain wash. a1700Evelyn Diary June 1645, They weare very long crisped haire, of severall strakes and colours, which they make so by a wash. 1859Habits of Gd. Society ii. 118 Essences, powders, pastes, washes for the hair, washes for the skin, recal the days of one's grandmothers.
d. A liquid preparation used to protect plants against pests or disease.
1921Discovery May 130/1 The providing of suitable sprays and washes, and other material connected with the checking of plant pests. 1951Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) IV. 2081/1 Other washes have had to be derived for use against it [sc. the red spider mite]. 1984Which? Apr. 166/3 Dirt or discoloration by lichen and algae on a wall..often isn't harmful... Brush on a sterilising wash.
e. = sheep-wash n. 1, 2.
1933Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 25 Nov. 15/7 Wash, place and plant for washing sheep. 1965[see draining-pen s.v. draining vbl. n. 4].
4.
†a. Mural painting in water-colour. Obs.—0.
1598Florio, Aquazzo, wash or water colour. 1611Ibid., Affrésco, a Painters worke called wash or water-colours.
b. Water-colour Painting. A broad thin layer of colour laid on by a continuous movement of the brush.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Washing, These washes are usually given in equal Teints, or Degrees, throughout; which are afterwards brought down and soften'd over the Lights with fair Water. 1882Hamerton Graphic Arts 84 Line and auxiliary washes are employed together in great variety. Ibid. 86 At Florence there are some drawings by Cambiaso, in pen and wash. 1884American VIII. 59 The beauty of the clear, broad wash. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 396 To produce dark clouds and rain with twelve or twenty successive washes.
c. transf. (Cf. wash v. 10 b.)
1597Gerarde Herbal i. lxvii. 92 In the middle of the leaues there riseth vp a yellow welt,..shadowed all ouer with a wash of thin blew. 1877Black Green Past. xliv, The valley was a plain of rich vegetation—long water-colour washes of yellow, and russet, and olive-green. 1879Stevenson Trav. Donkey (1886) 30 The intervening field of hills had fallen together into one broad wash of shadow. 1887Constance C. Harrison Bar Harbor Days xiii. 157 The summer sunshine fell like a wash of gold upon the shores of Mount Desert. 1891G. E. Shelley Catal. Birds Brit. Mus. XIX. 456 Abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts white, with a very faint pink wash.
d. A thin coat of water-colour or distemper spread over a wall or similar surface; a preparation used for this purpose. Cf. whitewash n.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 149 The Pillars from top to bottom being overlaid with a Golden Wash. 1826Sherer Notes & Refl. Ramble Germany 127 The white and yellow washes on the walls looked fresh. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 348 The floors of the dining rooms..were coloured brown with a wash made of soot and small beer. 1859Jephson Brittany viii. 105 The walls and pillars are all covered with a cold grey wash. 1884Macm. Mag. Oct. 426/1 Syra is almost entirely a white town, relieved now and again by a dash of yellow wash. 1885Harper's Mag. Mar. 547/1 The Pompeiian red..is only ‘water wash’.
5. A solution applied to metals for producing a counterfeit appearance of gold or silver.
1697Collier Ess. Moral Subj. ii. 98 Imagination..stamps Value and Significancy upon his Face, and tells the People he is to go for so much; who oftentimes, being deceived by the wash, never examin the Metal, but take him upon Content. 1861Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 99 §3 Whosoever shall gild or silver, or shall, with any Wash or Materials capable of producing the Colour or Appearance of Gold or of Silver,..wash, case over, or colour any Coin whatsoever.
II. Washing movement of water.
6. a. The washing of the waves upon the shore; surging movement of the sea or other water.
Neptune's salt wash (quot. 1602) a bombastic periphrasis for ‘the sea’.
[c1050Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 179/35 Aquarum alluuio, wætera ᵹewæsc. Ibid. 187/8 Alluuium, wæter⁓ᵹewæsc.] 1579Gosson Apol. Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 65 Truth is..harde, and cannot be broke with washe. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 166 Full thirtie times hath Phœbus Cart gon round Neptunes salt Wash, and Tellus Orbed ground. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 57 At the Entry into the Harbour only a Rock withstands the Washes. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 327 Their carpenters..raised their sides as well as they could to keep off the wash of the sea. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 59 The wash and bash of Rains, and the violence of the Winter Winds, which are all fatal to this Ground. 1778Engl. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Watchet, Great quantities of alabaster, which fall down the cliffs here, by the wash of the sea, are also sent to that city. 1855Tennyson Brook 194 Katie walks By the long wash of Australasian seas Far off. 1865Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 5 Here we were..facing the westerly breeze, and pitching and rolling in the wash of the sea. 1872Dana Corals ii. 137 An important protection to the roof against the wash of the waters. 1894Hall Caine Manxman iv. xviii, The wash of the waves touched his feet.
transf.1855Browning Two in Campagna v, Silence and passion, joy and peace, An everlasting wash of air—Rome's ghost since her decease.
b. (a) A surge raised in the sea or other piece of water by the passage of a vessel.
1883Harper's Mag. Feb. 393/1 We were steaming along splendidly now, sending up a fine wash and swash along the banks. 1884Ibid. Feb. 344/2 The steam-launch..sends a ‘wash’ along the shore. 1890R. C. Lehmann Harry Fludyer 121 They were standing on the bank close to the water, and our boat raised a wash and wetted their feet.
(b) The air current caused by the passage of an aircraft.
1910R. Ferris How it Flies xx. 474 Wash, the air⁓currents flowing out diagonally from the sides of a moving aeroplane. 1931Flight 9 Oct. 1012/1 Certain modifications have been suggested which are intended to reduce the wash from the tailplane on the rudder during a flat spin. 1972Daily Tel. 9 Aug. 4/8 It was not that the hundreds of [helicopter] pilots just overflew the nudist colony, but some flew so low they knocked over tents with the wash from their rotor blades.
c. The sound of the surge of water.
1845J. Coulter Adv. Pacific ix. 109, I..listened to the wash of the briny element on the beach. 1871Longfellow Life (1891) III. 177 The low wash of the sea very soothing. 1873Black Pr. Thule iii. 39 The wash of ripples along the coast could be heard. 1918Blackw. Mag. June 717/2 The wash of the swell on rocks met my ear.
d. Wear or attrition due to the action of waves. Also, the removal or displacement of soil by rain and running water (in quot. 1835, a place where this occurs); freq. in Comb. with preceding n., as in rain-wash s.v. rain n.1 6, sheet-wash s.v. sheet n.1 12 b, soil wash s.v. soil n.1 10.
1791Smeaton Edystone L. §78 To prevent that wash of the joints, that a very exposed situation might subject it to. 1835J. H. Ingraham South-West II. 88 Bermuda grass is used with great success to check the progress of a wash. 1859Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. III. 412 Land lying in such a position as to protect it from wash..may be kept in constant cultivation. 1872Lowell Dante Writ. 1890 IV. 224 This three-arched bridge, still firm against the wash and wear of ages. 1913[see soil-binding adj. s.v. soil n.1 9]. 1959G. H. Dury Face of Earth iii. 17 Rivers, surface-wash, and the downhill movement of solid rock combine to remove the substance of the land. 1972R. J. Small Study of Landforms vi. 209 On the upper part of the slope the increased ‘erosional’ effect of wash away from the crest may tend to produce convexity of profile, and this may be exaggerated..by soil creep.
7. a. A sandbank or tract of land alternately covered and exposed by the sea; a portion of an estuary admitting of being forded or crossed on foot at low tide. † the Washes, applied spec. to the fordable portion of the estuary between Lincolnshire and Norfolk; hence used as a name for the estuary itself, now called the Wash.
c1440Promp. Parv. 517/2 Wasche, watur or forde (v.r. forth), vadum. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. VI, 208 b, King Edward..with all hast possible passed the wasshes..& came to the toune of Lynne. 1595Shakes. John v. vi. 41 Halfe my power this night..are taken by the Tide, These Lincolne-Washes haue deuoured them. 1601Holland Pliny iii. xxvi. I. 71 As for the coast of Illyricum, it is pestred with more than a thousand [islands]; such is the nature of the sea, full of shelves and washes, with narrow chanels running betweene. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Passade, The swift course of the flowing, and ebbing of the sea, on the Sandes, or Washes. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 140 Upon the bay which Ptolomy names, æstuariam Metaris, vulgarly called, the Washes, lieth the large Towne of Linne. a1631Donne Serm. lxiv. (1640) 647 A washing begun in Baptisme,..Not such a washing, as the Washes have, which are those sands that are overflowed with the Sea at every Tide, and then lie dry, but [etc.]. 1641Prynne Disc. Prel. Tyrr. ii. 93 Hee departed out of Chester..his friends conducted them over the washes which are dangerous. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, ccliii, Mowbray, who had gone all the way along Vpon these Washes..Now to goe further, thought a Quick-sand sprung Might swallow him. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1295 The washes, as in Lincolnshire; æstuaria. 1722De Foe Col. Jack vii, There was no way now left, but that by the washes into Lincolnshire. 1740Phil. Trans. XLI. 689 An Easterly Breeze, which the Borderers on the Coast of Lincolnshire and Norfolk call Tide-weather, and may be occasioned by the Vapours arising from the Tides, which then cover a vast Wash of Sands in their Neighbourhood. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 289 The great bay or wash, which forms the sole receptacle for the drainage waters, is so shallow.
†b. The portion of the shore washed by the waves. Obs.
1614Ralegh Hist. World ii. iii. §7. 259 Euen at the very brincke and wash of the Sea. a1618― Apol. 15 The Towne being seated upon the very Wash of the Sea. 1698Phil. Trans. XX. 410 Some Vessels have been cast so far on the Shore, that..they have been from Twenty to Thirty Yards dry from the Wash of the Shore.
c. A low-lying tract of ground, often flooded, and interspersed with shallow pools and marshes.
1483Cath. Angl. 414/2 A Wesche, tesquum, in plurali tesqua. 1601Holland Pliny iii. i. I. 52 Within the washes and downes of Bœtis there is the town Nebrissa. 1794Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 174 The crops on the interior commons and washes suffered extremely by these [wire worms, etc.] at first. 1866Kingsley Herew. xxviii, Beyond Earith where now run the great washes of the Bedford Level. 1905Athenæum 30 Dec. 902/1 The book records..the enclosure of commons and washes, and the continuous advance of building operations.
d. Western U.S. The dry bed or portion of the bed of a winter torrent.
1894Amer. Rev. Reviews Nov. 508/2 The center of it [Pachango Valley] is occupied with the broad sandy ‘wash’ characteristic of Southern California streams. 1897Outing XXIX. 582/1 Temescal Wash is a mile wide and composed of sand and prickly pear cactus. 190419th Cent. Mar. 431 The bed of the wash, or dry valley bed, up which we were driving, was planted with corn.
8. A tract of shallow water, a lagoon. Also, a shallow pool or runnel formed by the overflow of a river, a backwater; a stream running across a road.
1530Palsgr. 287/1 Wasshe of water, marre. 1545–6Leland Itin. (1745) I. New Yr.'s Gift p. xxii, There is almoste nother Cape, nor Bay, Haven, Creeke, or Peere, River or Confluence of Rivers, Breches, Waschis, Lakes, Meres, Fenny Waters, Montaynes, Valleis, Mores, [etc.]. 1592Greene Def. Conny-catching Wks. (Grosart) XI. 65 Jack..away he rides singing towardes Endfield [from Edmonton]: as he rode, he mette at the washes with the Miller. 1601Holland Pliny xxxi. iv. II. 410 The raine that fell caused all the washes arising from the river Nilus which watered the grounds, to be bitter. 1609― Amm. Marcell. 248 Conveying themselves over the washes and marishes in flotes and troughes of hollowed trees. 1610W. Folkingham Feudigr. i. ii. 3 The other sort is digged vp in Fountaines, Riuers, Washes, Salt-Meeres, Sea-shoares. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xxxix. 52 The glorious Venetian Liberty..was planted in those Washes. 1658― tr. Paruta's Wars Cyprus 109 The Washes, or Moorish grounds, whereon the City of Venice is placed. 1673Pleas. Treat. Witches 53 With whom he travelled, till at last they came to a great wash; where the man profered the Monk..to carry him over on his back. 1695Thoresby Diary (1830) I. 295 We..had some showers, which raised the washes upon the road to that height that passengers from London that were upon the road swam. 1782Cowper Gilpin 135 Till he came unto the Wash Of Edmonton so gay. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. I. iii. 41 The gutters were suddenly a torrent; the pavement a dancing wash. 1848H. W. Herbert Field Sports U.S. II. 28 The wide extent of salt marshes and meadows, interspersed with shallow land-locked washes and lagoons. 1857Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1870) II. 204 Along the base of the castle [Skipton]..flows a stream, but only a ‘wash’, whatever that may be. 1878S. H. Miller & Skertchly Fenland vi. 158 Banks were made..enclosing a space called a Wash ‘for the waters to bed in’ in time of flood. 1884Auk Oct. 356, I came to a wash a few feet wide and a foot or so deep.
III. 9. Waste water discharged after use in washing; liquid refuse. Also fig. Now rare.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. i. 1105 And all the wesshe out of thi bathis [L. balnearum..eluvies] The gardyn thorgh to go, therto no scathe is. 1797Burke Reg. Peace iii. (1892) 192 If his Majesty had kept aloof from that wash and off-scouring of every thing that is low and barbarous in the world. 1833H. Martineau Brooke Farm iii. 39 He advised..that the sweepings from the cottage floors,..and the wash and boilings of all sorts, should be thrown into it [the pit].
10. Sc. and north. Stale urine: used as a detergent and as a mordant.
Perhaps so called from its use in washing.
c1480Henryson Sum Practysis of Med. 48 This vntment is rycht ganand for ȝour awin vss, With reid nettill seid in strang wesche to steip. 1535Lyndesay Satyre 4146 Ane curtill queine..Of strang wesche scho will tak ane iurdane, And settis in the gyle-fat. 1546― Death Beaton etc. E ij, Thou false hereticke [Wishart], saydest that holy water is not so good as washe, & such lyke. 1703Thoresby Let. to Ray, Wesh, or wash, Urine. 1737Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1750) 65 Learn your goodame to kirn wash. 1743in R. Maxwell Sel. Trans. Agric. 368 Put into your Copper a little stale Wash, which will make your Wald spend, and raise your Colour. 1882Crookes Dyeing 19 Stale urine..known in Lancashire as ‘lant’, and in Yorkshire as ‘wash’ or ‘weeting’, owes its action to the carbonate of ammonia formed by the decomposition of urea.
11. a. Kitchen swill or brewery refuse as food for swine: = hogwash, pig's wash. (So G. dial. wäsch.)
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 51/1 Porcus colluuiaris,..an hogge fed with wash and draffe. 1592Breton Pilgr. Parad. (Grosart) 22/2 The sweetest wine, is but as swinish wash, Unto the water, of the well of life. 1594Shakes. Rich. III v. ii. 9 The wretched, bloody, and vsurping Boare,..Swilles your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough In your embowel'd bosomes. 1665South Serm. (Prov. iii. 17) 18 As different as the silence of an Archimedes in the study of a Problem, and the stillness of a Sow at her wash. 1732Acc. Workhouses 79 They have a pig or two brought in, to live upon their wash, and dregs. 1851–61Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 132/1 The hogs' food obtained by these street⁓folk, or, as I most frequently heard it called, the ‘wash’. 1869Blackmore Lorna D. xxxii, She..pointed to the great bock of wash, and riddlings, and brown hulkage. 1896Baring-Gould Dartmoor Idylls v. 129 When she carried the sow her pail of wash.
fig.1655Fuller Ch. Hist. i. 16 Clean Stomacks will be better satisfied with one drop of the Milk of Truth, then foul Feeders..with a Trough of Wash, mingled with the water of Fabulous Inventions.
b. Liquid food for other animals.
1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 96/2 The mangers extend along the whole length of each row of cattle; these are for the wash, or fluid food;..The wash..is very nutritious, as it contains the finer particles of the ground malt.
IV.
12. a. Matter washed away by running water; solid particles carried away by a stream and deposited as sediment; alluvial deposit.
1707Mortimer Husb. 86 The Wash of Pastures, Fields, Commons, Roads [etc.]..where..Rain water hath a long time settled.., [is] of very great advantage to all sorts of Land. 1757[Burke] Europ. Settlem. Amer. vi. i. II. 60 In these plains, the soil augmented by the wash of the mountains for so many ages, is prodigiously fertile. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 8 A territory, the mere wash of three great rivers. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xiii, ‘Tastes like the wash of the river.’ ‘Are you so familiar with the flavour of the wash of the river?’ 1883Modern Rev. IV. 682 The land..has been built up out of the wash of ancient rivers and the sands of vanished seas. 1888J. D. Whitney Names & Places 125 (Cent.) The debris-piles which stretch along the lower slopes of the ranges in the Cordilleran Region are locally known as washes. 1895Baring-Gould Noémi x, The course taken by the flood is easily recognisable by this fact—that it has left its wash on the tops of the plateau, where to the present day lies a film of caoline.
b. Mining. ‘A formation of gravel, etc. over an abraded coal-seam’. (Eng. Dial. Dict.)
1882[see drifting vbl. n. 2]. 1888W. E. Nicholson Gloss. Coal Trade Northumb. (E.D.D.), The Team Wash, which extends from Dunston on the river Tyne and, following the line of the river Team, to Tursdale,..and washes out several seams of coal in its course.
V.
13. a. (See quot. 1728.) ? Obs.
1619Donne Serm. 18 Apr. (1661) III. 270 Of this Gold (this virtue of Repentance) there is no Mine in the Earth; in the books of Philosophers, no doctrine of Repentance; this Gold is for the most part in the washes. 1728Chambers Cycl., Washings, or Washes, among Goldsmiths, Coiners, &c. are the Lotions whereby they recover the Particles of Gold and Silver out of the Ashes, Earths, Sweepings, &c.
b. Soil from which gold (or diamonds) can be extracted by washing.
a1875Hector in Offic. Handbk. N. Zealand 171 Gold was obtained on terraces along the sides of the valley, and in the river bed, the wash everywhere resting on water⁓worn bars and ledges of greenstone, [etc.]. 1879R. J. Atcherley Trip Boërland 143 We had extracted about a hundred⁓weight of wash. 1880Fison & Howitt Kamilaroi 272 The great ‘reef washes’ of Ballarat are to be referred to the period of depression. 1886N.Z. Herald 28 May 6/7 Last week, after driving about 80 feet, they struck payable wash. The wash is about two feet thick, lying on a slate bottom. 1890Goldfields of Victoria 7 A company has been formed to work the ‘first floor’ which shows gold and tin in 10 feet of wash. 1897Daily News 30 Nov. 9/5 Inverell Diamond Fields.—..101 carats of diamonds from five loads washed. Wash improves as development progresses.
VI. Watery infusion or mixture.
14. Originally, the partially fermented wort remaining after ale or beer has been brewed from it; this wort as subjected to further fermentation in order that ardent spirit may be distilled from it. In later use, malt or other fermentable substance or mixture of substances steeped in water to undergo fermentation preparatory to distillation.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Wash, After-wort. 1701Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 55 That 2d. per gallon be laid on all low wines or spirits drawn from brewers wash. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4624/1 An Act to Prohibit the Exportation of..Worts and Wash drawn from Malted Corn. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Wash, the distillers name for the fermentable liquor, made by dissolving the proper subject for fermentation and distillation in common water. 1815Ann. Reg., Chron. 43 Besides the still, a considerable quantity of wash, and some low wines, were found. 1825Gentl. Mag. XCV. i. 215 The molasses are conveyed by channels into a large vat in the still house, to which a certain quantity of water is added, and in this state the liquor is called ‘wash’. 1880Act 43 & 44 Vict. c. 24 §5 (1) No person may, without being licensed..(b) Brew or make wort or wash. 1903Times 22 Aug. 8/6, 200 gallons of ‘wash’—liquor prepared with sugar, barley, flour, &c. 1908Westm. Gaz. 23 Mar. 2/1 The liquid from which spirit is distilled is termed ‘wash’, and may be made from almost anything. If the distiller be righteous, it is made from malt, or, in the case of Irish whisky, malt and unmalted grain.
15. a. Washy or vapid liquor. Also fig., vapid discourse or writing.
1548Udall etc. Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 15–18 My doctrine is but verai washe, if it be compared vnto his doctrine [Erasm. Mea doctrina diluta est, si ad illius doctrinam conferatur]. 1819W. S. Rose Lett. N. Italy I. 108 A remedy..is thought to have been discovered in coffee; not the vile and vapid wash which is usually made in England,..but [etc.]. 1839Rayson Poems (1858) 49 Nae mair weaste yer money on ony sec wesh. 1895J. Nicholson Kilwuddie 166 (E.D.D.) We kentna the goo' o' the wash we drink noo, That puir, feckless skiddle ca'd tea. 1911R. Brooke Let. in Memoir (1918) p. lxx, To remove it [the sonnet called Lust] would be to overbalance the book still more in the direction of unimportant prettiness. There's plenty of that sort of wash in the other pages for the readers who like it.
b. Nonsense, rubbish, ‘twaddle’. Cf. senses 11 a fig. and 15 a fig., and hogwash b.
1913A. Lunn Harrovians xvii. 287 The Housemasters call their Sixth together at intervals and gass 'em... You know the kind of wash. 1933G. Heyer Why shoot Butler? vi. 86 Not strictly the clean potato, is it?.. Guest in the man's house, you know. The Public School Spirit, and Playing for the Side, and all that wash.
VII. 16. The blade of an oar.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) D d 4, That part of the oar..which enters into the water, is called the blade, or wash.
VIII. Senses of obscure or doubtful origin.
17. A measure for oysters and whelks.
1481–90Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 370 Item, for ij. wash and di. of oystres at Wevenho, iiij. d. 1574in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (1911) 444 To Walter Tayler for viij washe of oysters and for charges from Dunesbye, vj s. viij d. 1661Blount Glossogr. (ed. 2), A Wash of Oysters is ten Strikes. 1677Maldon (Essex) Borough Deeds Bundle 101. no. 2, Paid for a wash of oysters presented to a gent. in London vpon the town's account. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 163 The trade in whelks is one of which the costermongers have the undisputed monopoly..this shell-fish is bought by the measure (a double peck or gallon), half measure, or wash. A wash is four measures. 1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 256/2 Each smack takes about 40 wash of whelks with her for the voyage. 1882Standard 26 Sept. 2/2 Whelks are sold by the ‘wash’, a wash consisting of 21 quarts and one pint,..worth on an average four shillings.
†18. Some part of a horse's eye. Obs.
1639T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. ii. viii. (1656) 293, I have oft times seen the French Marishalls take up the wash of the eye, with a Spanish needle, threeded with a double brown threed,..But I cannot commend this manner of curing the Haw, for by that means he cutteth away the wash of the eye, which indeed is the beauty of the eye. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 141 Farriers taking up the Wash of the Eye with a Needle and Thread.
19. The underground den of a beaver or a bear.
1809A. Henry Trav. 128 It [the beaver's house] is always entirely surrounded with water; but, in the banks adjacent, the animal provides holes or washes, of which the entrance is below the surface, and to which it retreats on the first alarm. 1877Coues Fur-bearing Anim. ii. 52 They [wolverenes] bring forth in burrows under ground, probably old Bear washes, and have four or five young at a birth.
20. slang.
a. Printing. An act of ‘washing’ (see wash v. 20 a).
1841Savage Dict. Printing 810.
b. Stock Exchange. A fictitious sale of securities by a broker who has a commission from an intending buyer and also from an intending seller, and who instead of effecting the two transactions separately, in the interest of each client, simply transfers from the one account to the other, the difference going to his own profit.
1891in Century Dict.
IX.
21. attrib. and Comb., in sense 14, designating various vessels in which the distiller's ‘wash’ is contained or elaborated, as wash-back, wash-batch, wash-charger, wash-cistern, wash-heater, wash-warmer; in sense 11, as wash-buyer. Also wash-bag, a small waterproof bag for holding toilet articles; a sponge-bag; wash-basket, (a) U.S. see quot. 1881; (b) a basket for clothes sent to the wash; wash-bill U.S. = washing-bill; wash coat, an undercoat, esp. one for improving or preparing the surface rather than giving a colour; wash-day, the day for the washing of clothes in a household = washing-day; wash-fast a., that can be washed without losing colour or dye; so wash-fastness; wash-land, a tract of land periodically overflowed by a river; wash-linen, linen sent to the wash; wash-plain, a tract of land formed by alluvial deposits; wash primer, a wash coat for use on metal; wash-sale, see quot. 1891 (cf. sense 20); cf. washed ppl. a. 1 f; † wash-tumbler, ? a glass for holding washes for the complexion or the teeth; † wash-yard, ? the yard attached to a wash-house. See also wash v. 21 b.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 403 Before the fermented wort goes into the still, a calculation is made of the quantity of wash drawn from the *wash back, and which is first pumped into what is called the wash charger.
1972E. Thorpe Night I caught Santa Fé Chief i. 11, I took the *wash-bag out of the grip; the face-cloth was slightly damp. 1980G. Lord Fortress i. 10 She..picked up her wash-bag. She went..to the bathroom.
1881E. Ingersoll Oyster Industry 249 *Wash-basket, a rude splint basket, circular, shallow, holding about a peck, and with a high bale-handle (Rhode Island). 1903Daily Chron. 26 June 3/7 The family wash-basket.
1696–7Act 8 & 9 Will. III c. 19 §10 That no common Distiller..shall..erect or sett upp any Tun Cask *Wash-batch Copper Still or other Vessell for the brewing making or keeping of any Worts Wash [etc.].
1873B. Harte Fiddletown 26 Finding his *wash-bill made out on the unwritten side of one of these squares, and delivered to him with his weekly clean clothes.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 149 There are a number of *wash-buyers in the suburbs, who purchase..their stock..at gentlemen's houses, and retail it..to those who feed pigs.
1839*Wash charger [see wash back].
1853Ure Dict. Arts I. 5 The *wash⁓cistern..should be supported on a shelf near the ceiling of the stove-heated apartment.
1951M. Hess Paint Film Defects 385 On wood which has been treated with water-stains the application of *wash coats of a 5 to 8 per cent. shellac solution seem [sic] to be popular. 1960McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. X. 593/1 Primers are always pigmented. In clear finishes, the coat which performs this function is described as a sealer, an undercoater, or a wash coat. 1961J. G. E. Holloway Mod. Painter & Decorator (ed. 5) I. 152 Often the application of a full coat of plastic paint will be preceded by a wash coat..to produce a ground of uniform colour.
1846Southern Lit. Messenger XII. 598/1 Thursday is *wash-day. 1864Mrs. A. Gatty Parables Nat. Ser. iv. 9 He had watered it..with soap-suds on a wash-day.
1963A. J. Hall Textile Sci. iv. 184 This method of dyeing can be used to produce *wash-fast shades. 1977Private Eye 4 Mar. 21/1 (Advt.), T-shirts and sweater shirts printed to your design in wash-fast dyes, permanent whites, gold, silver or velvet flock finishes.
1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics xx. 334 The thermosetting resin..gave moderate recovery but some discolouration and great embrittlement, together with a lack of *wash-fastness.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1182 The water..is carried off by the pipe m, through the vessel n, called the *wash-heater.
1794Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 191 The *washlands amount to about three thousand acres. 1878S. H. Miller & Skertchly Fenland i. 6 Along this course..are wash-lands which receive the waters of the river when it overflows. 1883Eng. Illustr. Mag. Nov. 70/2 In some cases the rivers have even inner and outer banks, with washlands between them.
1901Osler Princ. Med. i. (ed. 4) 5 The infection [of typhoid fever] may be spread by means of clothing and *wash-linen.
1899Nature 13 July 259/1 These ‘*wash plains’ or stream deltas and fans constitute a very important feature in the Pleistocene deposits of the region.
1961Webster, *Wash primer. 1963Times 22 Apr. 6/5 Zinc tetroxychromate is the most commonly used pigment in the so-called ‘wash primers’ for metals, which concurrently etch and coat the metal surface before the application of other paint coats to ensure good adhesion. 1973Wash-primer [see polyvinyl acetal s.v. polyvinyl a].
1848W. Armstrong Stocks 19 These *wash sales are of course void between parties. They are of very frequent occurrence and very mischievous. 1891Century Dict., Wash sales, in the stock-market, feigned sales, made for the sake of advantage gained by the report of a fictitious price. 1908Times 26 Aug. 5/5 In the words of the Evening Post..since 1901 the two terms ‘wash sales’ and ‘matched orders’ have become a familiar explanation of the erratic movements of prices on the Exchange.
1774Pennsylv. Gaz. 14 Dec. 1/1 Glass. Cut candlesticks, decanters, *wash tumblers, wine glasses, [etc.].
1900Sadtler Handbk. Industr. Org. Chem. (ed. 3) 220 Interposing between the still and the refrigerating apparatus a ‘*wash-warmer’, or vessel filled with the liquid ready for distillation.
c1625in W. Robinson Hackney (1842) I. 111 [Inventory of Goods] In the Wash-house..In the *Wash-yarde. Item—One great cesterne of leade, [etc.].
Add:[I.] [3.] f. Photogr. The liquid in which a newly developed photographic plate or print is washed.
1953M. P. Wooller Print Control vi. 84 The hypo. converts the silver ferrocyanide into a complex silver compound, which is soluble in water, and disappears in the wash. 1988Practical Photogr. Sept. 83/1 Take the print from the wash and place it into the bleach.
[VIII.] [20.] c. A balanced outcome; a situation or result which is of no net gain or loss. U.S. colloq. (orig. Comm.).
1976National Observer (U.S.) 10 Apr. 5/4 If Humphrey were the more Democratic nominee, it would be more or less of a wash, because Humphrey is an old Washington hand too, and he carries many of the same scars as Ford. 1983Fortune 31 Oct. 7/2 After capital-gains taxes the entire CIT transaction will be accounted for as a wash... ‘A wash is better than a loss.’ 1989Atlantic Monthly Sept. 20/3 There is a remote possibility..that statistically the matter is a wash.
▪ II. † wash, a. Obs.
[? f. wash v.; perh. in part a corruption of walsh a.]
Washy, weak, tender.
1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xii. 49–53 It is no washe doctrine, ne worldely [Erasm. non est diluta, nec humana doctrina], that I haue brought down from heauen. 1607Marston What you Will i. i, But how long doth this perfume of sweete Madam last? Faith tis but a wash sent. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca iv. i, Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper, a rough-pac'd bed will shake 'em all to pieces. 1624Fletcher Rule a Wife iii. i, Tis a wash knave, he will not keep his flesh well. 1639T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. ii. iii. (1656) 104 They are naturally slow, dull, heavy, and nesh or wash of their flesh.
▪ III. wash, v.|wɒʃ|
Pa. tense and pple. washed |wɒʃt|. Forms: inf. and pres. stem: 1 wæscan, wacsan, waxan, wacxan, waxsan, 2–6 wasche, wasse, 2–7 wasshe, 3 was(s)ce, weasche, 3–4 was(e, waass, 3–5, 6 Sc. wass, 3–5 wassche, 3–6 wasch, 4 whasche, 4–5 wach(e, wasch(s)che, wassh, 5 vasshe, whas, 7 Sc. vash, 3–7 washe, 3– wash; 4 waysch(e, waiisse, wayss, 4–5 wais(s)che, wais(s)he, wayssh(e, waisse, 4–6 wayshe, waysse, weische, weysshe, weysch, 6 weish; (chiefly north. and Sc.) 2–6 wesche, 3–5 wess(e, 4–5 wessch(e, 4–6 wessh(e, vesch(e, 4–7 wesch, 5 whess, 5–7 weshe, 9 dial. wesh; also 4 wisshe, whosshe, 5 wosche, wosshe, 6 Sc. woucht, 6–7 wysch(e. pa. tense. α. 1 wósc, 2–4 wosch, 4 woisse, 4–5 wossch(e, wosh(e, wossh(e, 4–5, 6 Sc. wosche, 5 woschsse, Sc. wousche, 6 Sc. woushe, 7 Sc. woosh. β. 1 wéox, 2 weosc, 2–3 weis, 2–4 wess(e, 2–5 wesch, wessh, 3 weosch(s, wes, 3–4 wex(s, weiss(e, 3–5, 6 Sc. wesche, 4 we(s)chs, weesche, weysche, 4–5 wessch(e, wesh(e, 4–6 wesshe, 5 weeshe, (pl. whesshen), 6 Sc. weisch(e, 9 Sc. weesh, weish; 3–4 wasch, was, 4–5 wasche, wassh(e; 2–3 wuesh, 3 wuchs, (pl. wuschschen), 3–5 wusch, 4 wuesch, 6 Sc. wus(c)he, 9 Sc. wush; 3–4 wis, 4 wysch, 4–5, 6 Sc. wisch(e, 4–5 wissch(e, wissh(e, wys(s)che, wysh, wyssh(e, 5 wishe, whisse, (pl. wissen), 7 Sc. wyshe. pa. pple. 1 -wæscen, -wahsen, -waxen, 2 (i)wasse, 2–3 (i)wasshen, 2–5 waschen, 3 weaschen, 3–4 wassen, 3–5 (i)wasche, 4 wasshin, (i)washe, whasche, wahche, 4–5 wassche(n, -yn, (y)wasshe, wasshun, whasshen, 4–6 wasshen, 5 was(c)hyn, wassh, wasch, whassche, 6 wasz(s)hen, Sc. waschin, 7 Sc. washine, 3–9 (now arch. and dial.) washen; 2 (i)wesscen, 2–5, 6 Sc. weschen, 3–4 wessen, 4 wesche, (y)wesse, 5 wessch, (y)wesh, wesshe, (y)whess, weshen, 5, 6 Sc. weschin, -yn, 6 Sc. veschin(e; 4 waysen, 4–5 waische(n, -un, -yn, wayschen, waissche(n, waisshe(n, wayshun, weische(n, weysche, 5 waishe, waisch; 8 Sc. wush. weak pa. tense and pa. pple. 3–4 wassed, 4–5 wascht, 4–6 wasched, wasshed, wesshed, etc.; 5 wesht, Sc. wecht; 4–5 washid, 6 washte, 7 washd, 6–8 washt, 7–9 wash'd, 5– washed.
[A Com. Teut. vb. (not recorded in Gothic), originally strong: OE. wæscan, wascan, also by metathesis waxan, pa. tense pl. wóxon, wéocson, pa. pple. -wæscen, corresponds to OFris. *waska (E. and N.Fris. waske, W.Fris. waskje), OS., OLow Frankish wascan (Du. wasschen, pa. tense wiesch, pa. pple. gewasschen), OHG. wascan, pa. tense wuosc, pa. pple. giwascan (MHG. waschen, weschen, mod.G. waschen, pa. tense wusch, pa. pple. gewaschen), ON. (rare) vaska, conjugated weak (Sw. vaska, Da. vaske):—OTeut. *waskan:—*watskan f. root *wat- as in water n.
It is uncertain whether the original conjugation was of the reduplicating type (OE. pa. tense wéosc = Du. wiesch) or of the ablaut type (OE. wósc = OHG. wuosc). In English the weak conjugation appears occasionally in the 14th c., but the strong forms prevailed till the close of the 16th c., after which they seldom occur exc. in dialects.]
I. To cleanse by means of water. Also with compl. adj., to wash white, wash clean.
1. a. trans. To cleanse, remove the dirt from (something) by affusion of or immersion in water.
In OE. the verb was almost confined to the specific use 2 below. For the washing of vessels, and for the washing of the human body, the word used was þwéan.
900in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. (1865) 145 Hi sculan waxan sceap. c1000ælfric Levit. i. 9 And waxan þæt innewerde and þa fet [of the burnt offering]. c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke v. 2 Ða fisceras eodon, & woxon heora net. c1205Lay. 10182 Heo..wascen þa waȝes [c 1275 wassen þe wowes]. 13..St. Alexius 311 (Laud MS. 108) As he wessch here dissches. 1387Trevisa Higden III. 315 Diogenes wisshe [v.rr. wische, wysch] wortes in a tyme. Ibid. VI. 403 Sche wolde take þe schoon of here sustres priveliche by nyȝte and wasche [v.rr. wasse, waysche] hem and smere hem. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy. ii. 751 It [sc. the conduit water] made a ful purgacioun Of al ordure & fylþes in þe toun, Waschyng þe stretis as þei stod a rowe. c1430Two Cookery-bks. 18 Pyke hem clene, & skrape hem, & Wasshem clene. Ibid. 114 Nym ye ris, whess hem clene. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xiv. 230 A good huswijf..now sche sethith, now sche rostith, now sche weischith disschis. 1520in Archæologia XXV. 437 For wayshyng of the flocke at Frynge iij s. iiij d. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 24 Water..for washing of glasses. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 317 In Kent..they wash their sheep in the following manner. 1764E. Moxon Engl. Housew. (ed. 9) 175 Take cockles at a full moon and wash 'em. 1773J. Campbell Mod. Faulconry 199 When you give her casting of flannel or cotton, take care to have them washen as clean as they can be. 1834Dickens Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho. ii, The second-floor front was scrubbed, and washed, and flannelled. 1849Lever Con Cregan xviii, Carriages, too, were washing, and high-bred horses standing out to be groomed. 1861F. Nightingale Nursing (ed. 2) 61 In the sick room, the doctor should always be asked..at what hour he chooses the floor to be washed. 1905R. Bagot Passport xxvii. 295 We could talk afterwards—while Ernana is washing the dishes.
†b. Prov. to wash a wall of loam, wash a brick or tile (= L. laterem lavare), to labour in vain. Cf. 3 d.
1586Hooker Serm. ii. §19 But we wash a wall of lome; we labor in vaine. 1612Two Noble K. iii. v. 41 We have, As learned Authours utter, washd a Tile. 1779Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 263, I wish I could make him feel as he ought, but one may as well wash a brick.
c. Naut. to wash a ship: see quot. Also absol. ? Obs.
1644H. Manwayring Sea-mans Dict. 113 To Wash a Ship. That is used at sea, when we cannot come aground, or careene-her: we make her heeled-over with her Ordnance and men, upon the yard-arms to a side, and so wash that side and scrape it (so much as is out of the water, which is commonly some 5, or 6 strakes). 1666,1720[see tallow v. 1 b]. 1679Lond. Gaz. No. 1445/1 They will Wash and Tallow, and then take their course to the Westward.
†d. Fishing. to wash off: to wash (the net) after a day's work. Also absol. Obs.
1630in Binnell Descr. Thames (1758) 73 Upon Saturday Sun set, to wash off his Net, hale up and go home. Ibid. 77 That no Trawler do fish..upon the Saturday after Sun⁓rising, but to wash off, hale up, and go home.
e. to wash out: to cleanse the interior of (a vessel).
1827Faraday Chem. Manip. ii. (1842) 54 It is requisite that it [the bottle] be washed out after every experiment, the last two or three rinsings being made with distilled water. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 757 A tube of convenient size open at the top or sides so that it can be properly washed-out.
f. to wash up: (i) to wash (table utensils) after a meal. Also absol.
1751F. Coventry Pompey the Little ii. xiii. 241 When he had done sipping his Tea, he used to wash up the Cups with the most orderly Exactness. 1820J. Severn Let. 17 Dec. in Keats Lett. (1958) II. 363, I am obliged to wash up—cook—& read to Keats all day. 1837J. Morier Abel Allnutt xx. 116 That Betsy might be allowed to come in and help to ‘wash up’. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xlix, Sitting in state to see the room cleared, the hearth swept, and the dinner⁓service washed up and polished in the back yard. 1905R. Bagot Passport xxiii. 233 His supper over, and Ernana having retired into the kitchen to wash up.
(ii) fig. To bring to a conclusion; to end or finish (something). U.S. slang.
1925World (N.Y.) 25 Oct. ii. 3/1 ‘That guy might be all right if he washed up [sc. washed, cleaned himself],’ commented Buck... Just then the stage manager called out: ‘What will I do with this act, Mr. Ziegfeld?’ ‘Wash up him and the bird,’ said Flo [Ziegfeld] and that was the last of the Italian and his trained canary... Hype Igoe, the World's sporting writer, heard of the incident..and in commenting..upon Frank Moran, heavy weight pugilist, advised that matchmakers ‘wash him up’. The phrase caught the sporting fancy..and has become a colloquial fixture..as a meaty synonym for finals and farewell. 1929Sat. Even. Post 2 Nov. 24/3 ‘I had an idea,’ he explained... ‘Just came to me, riding back. I think I know how I can wash it up.’.. He would write it now—tonight! 1940J. O'Hara Pal Joey (1952) 65 They said act of God and fire etc. wash up a contract automatically. 1972D. Delman Sudden Death iv. 98 That man washed himself up with me because he couldn't keep his big, fat, fairy's mouth shut.
g. to wash down: to wash from top to bottom or from end to end.
1877G. Stables Pract. Kennel Guide 129 A portion of carbolic acid should be used with the water you wash down the yard with. 1898Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.) Oct. 300 The waters of the bay are so foul that..ships which visit Rio..do not wash down their decks..during their stay in port. 1901G. Douglas House with Green Shutters 14 Gilmour..was washing down the legs of a horse.
h. fig. In the game of mah-jong, to shuffle (the tiles).
1926A. Christie Murder of Roger Ackroyd xvi. 196 Caroline got out the Mah Jong box and poured out the tiles upon the table. ‘Washing the tiles,’ said the colonel. 1929Encycl. Brit. XIV. 677/1 All the tiles are..put face downward on the table and thoroughly shuffled or ‘washed’. 1977‘J. le Carré’ Hon. Schoolboy xiv. 319 Jerry heard a ritual clicking as the habitual mah-jong party washed the pieces before distributing them.
i. absol. To wash table utensils as opposed to drying them. Cf. dry v. 1 c, wipe v. 1 c.
1943L. I. Wilder Those Happy Golden Years xxi. 192 Neither of you need worry about the dishes... I'll wash and Grace will wipe. 1958J. Cannan And be a Villain vii. 150 Evadne..insisted on washing while Laura dried. 1962M. Duffy That's how it Was xiii. 115 Billy washes, Arthur wipes, you put away. 1978Listener 13 Apr. 483/1 Let's pack away the tea. I'll wash, you dry.
2. a. To cleanse (soiled clothes, wool, etc.) by rubbing in water, with soap or some equivalent. Also to wash clean, wash white. to wash through, to wash (a garment) by hand, often individually and hastily.
c900tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xxvii. (1890) 84 He þa ærest bebead, þæt heo heora hræᵹl woosce & clænsode. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 57 Sume bereð sole cloð to þe watere forto wasshen it clene. a1225Ancr. R. 324 Wule a weob beon, et one cherre, mid one watere wel ibleched, oðor a sol cloð hwit iwaschen? 1340Ayenb. 236 Ase linene kertel erþan hi by huyte ueleziþe him behoueþ þet he by ybeate and ywesse. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 315 Þi best cote..Hath many moles and spottes, it moste ben ywasshe. c1450Two Cookery-bks. 84 Take hit vppe in a faire lynnen cloth that is clene wasshen. 1497Halyburton Ledger (1867) 149 Item ffor iiij men to weysch it [the wool] and dry it,..3 s. 1522Burgh Rec. Stirling (1887) I. 17 That na persoun nor personis woucht ony maner of clais at the toune bouirn..undir the pain of..brekin of the weschal that tha wous with. 1538Elyot Dict., Radicula, an herbe, the iuyce whereof is good to wasshe woulle. 15..Wyf of Auchtirmwchty 94 He trailit the fowll scheitis doun the gait, Thocht to haif wechst [Ramsay wush] thame on ane stane. 1842Macaulay Ess., Fredk. Gt. (1897) 814 ‘See,’ exclaimed Voltaire, ‘what a quantity of his dirty linen the King has sent me to wash!’ 1868L. M. Alcott Little Women ii, How nice my handkerchiefs look, don't they? Hannah washed and ironed them for me. 1936N. Streatfeild Ballet Shoes ix. 136 I'll just wash your jersey through. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xvii. 168 ‘Isn't that one of my spare shirts?’.. ‘Sorry. Yes it is. But I washed it through for you.’
b. to be (a) washing: to be getting washed.
1600Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood v. 72 Except his Shirt's a washing. a1704T. Brown Pleas. Lett. to Gentl. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 16 Their Commodes and Smocks were washing below by the Landlady of the House.
c. to wash one's dirty linen at home, in public: said fig. with reference to domestic quarrels or grievances, the discussion of which is best confined to the family circle.
Cf. F. Il faut laver son linge sale en famille.
1867Trollope Last Chron. Barset xliv, I do not like to trouble you with my private affairs;—there is nothing, I think, so bad as washing one's dirty linen in public. 1891Law Times XCI. 21/2 It is ridiculous that grave disputes..should be kept waiting while the dirty linen of high society is..washed in public. 1895[see linen n.].
d. † to wash up, ? to wash with vigorous rubbing. to wash out, to rinse so as to remove soap or other substance from the web of the stuff.
1756F. Home Exper. Bleaching 214 Give it a boil or two at most, and then wash it up while the gross body of the lime is in the substance of the cloth. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 688/2 They [dyed calicoes] are treated with a hot solution of soap; they are then washed out, squeezed, and again soaped.
e. absol. To wash clothes (as an occupation or as part of one's household duties). Also, to wash the clothes of a household periodically.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 313 Item, she can wash and scoure. 1623Cockeram ii, She that Washeth. Lauatrix. 1671H. M. tr. Erasm. Colloq. 420 What wilt thou do to the Germans, who wash scarce twice in a year? 1725View Lond. & Westminster 9 They were extraordinary Oeconomists, brew'd their own Beer, wash'd at home. 1828Lights & Shades I. 242 Mrs. Stevens's things hanging out again! I thought she washed last week. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxxiii, Betsy Martin, widow,..Goes out charing and washing by the day. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. x. (1901) I. 83 Lucy Sandey would mangle, wash, and clear-starch.
f. trans. To wash clothes for (a customer or lodger). dial.
1786J. Woodforde Diary 31 May (1926) II. 247, I paid her up to this Day and told her I would get another to wash him. 1795Vancouver Agric. Essex 82 They cook, wash, lodge, and find them [the workmen] in small beer for 2s. per week. 1886S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., She has weshed him ever sin he came. 1895‘Rosemary’ Under Chilterns ii. 81 That'd be nigh enough for me to wash 'im an' mend 'im.
g. absol. To have one's clothes washed; to pay the laundress's charges. jocular nonce-use.
1837Dickens Pickw. lv, It was by very many degrees the best professional job he had ever had, and one on which he boarded, lodged, and washed for six months afterwards.
h. trans. Of water or other agent: To have the property of cleansing (clothes) easily and well. Also absol.
1697Tryon Way to Health vi. (ed. 3) 101 It [rain-water] Brews and Washes to greater advantage than others.
i. intr. Of a fabric, a dye: To bear cleansing with soap and water without damage to colour or texture.
1765Franklin Lett. Wks. III. 402 Mrs. Stevenson bids me tell Sally, that the striped gown I sent her will wash. 1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. iii, It is very pretty, madam,..but I do not think it will wash well: I am afraid it will fray. 1840H. Brownrigg in K. Meadows Heads of People I. 93 ‘You told me, sir, the print would wash!’ she exclaimed, shewing to the unmoved shopman the colourless purchase. 1883Harper's Mag. Nov. 971/1 Only eighteen⁓pence a yard, ma'am, and warranted to wash.
j. fig. (colloq.) To bear trial or investigation, stand the test, find acceptance, prove to be genuine, reliable. Chiefly in phr. (it) won't wash.
1849C. Brontë Shirley xviii, That willn't wash, Miss. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. ii, He's got pluck somewhere in him. That's the only thing after all that'll wash, ain't it? 1867Trollope Last Chron. Barset xvi, The men—and the women too,—who are so..soft-natured, so kind,..—it so often turns out that they won't wash. 1881Ld. Acton Lett. to Mary Gladstone (1904) 99 The defect of the argument is that it will neither wear nor wash. 1911Spectator 21 Oct. 643/1 He was not to be taken in by plausibilities that ‘wouldn't wash’.
k. pass. or intr. with out. Of a fabric: To lose colour in the wash. Hence fig. to lose all vigour or freshness.
1848Dickens Dombey i, The lady..was a long, lean figure, wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call ‘fast-colours’ originally and to have, by little and little, washed out. 1868‘Holme Lee’ B. Godfrey l. 282 That claptrap won't wash any longer,..it is quite washed out. 1886G. Allen Maimie's Sake xxii, A reaction has set in, and I'm quite washed out and unfit for anything.
3. a. To cleanse (the body or part of it) with water. Also to wash clean, wash white.
c1160Hatton Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 24 Pilatus..weosc [c 1000 Ags. Gosp. þwoh] hys hande beforan þam folke. c1200Ormin 15122 To wasshenn offte þeȝȝre lic Wiþþ waterr all wiþþutenn. a1225Ancr. R. 324 Þu waschest þine honden in one elpi deie twies oðer þries. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2289 After ðat grot, he weis is wliten. a1300Marina 172 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 173 Go we whosshen vr dede broþer. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 423 Oure bodies ne ben in no baþ wahche. 1382Wyclif Judith x. 3 She wesh [1388 waischide] hir bodi. c1470Henry Wallace ii. 267 Scho warmyt wattir, and hir serwandis fast His body wousche. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ii. 61 They..asked after water for to wasse their handes. 1535Coverdale Gen. xix. 2 Let your fete be waszshen. 15..Christ's Kirk on Gr. 6 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 282 Thair come our kitteis weschin clene. 1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Farew. Tower-Bottles A 8, Many times you haue beene fild with trash, Scarce good enough your dirty skins to wash. 1709Steele Tatler No. 73 ⁋3 Keep your Temper, wash your Face, and go to Bed. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxviii, To wash and dress this young gentleman. 1862Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. i. i, Here's Francis coming down-stairs. He went up to wash his hands. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 610 The patient may be washed with sulphur soap.
b. const. of. rare.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. v. (1495) 193 Whan chyldren ben wasshe of fylthe anone they defoyle themself ayen. 1897O. Wister in Harper's Mag. Mar. 520/2 Both were aware that when shaved and washed of their round-up grime they could look very engaging.
c. said of the water as agent.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. ix. (1495) 445 The ryuer Jordan wisshe and clensyd Naaman of Syria of his lepre. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 100 Saue water, which dooth wash thy handis.
d. Proverbs. † one hand washeth another (see quots. 1593, 1596). to wash an Ethiop, a blackamoor (white); to wash an ass's head (or ears): to labour in vain (cf. 1 b).
1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 165 As one hand washeth another, and both of them the face, so one brother ought to support another. 1592Lodge Euphues Shadow (1882) 53 Who washeth the Asses eares, looseth both his Sope and his labour. 1593G. Harvey New Let. Notable Cont. Wks. (Grosart) I. 269 One hand washeth an other: and it apperteineth vnto him, that taketh something, to giue some⁓thing. 1596J. Melvill Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 375 We mein nocht to tyne tyme in wassing of sic Moores. 1604Marston Malcontent iv. iii. F 3, I washt an Ethiop, who for recompence Sullyde my name. 1624Massinger Parlt. Love ii. ii, For, being censured, Or to extenuate, or excuse my guilt, Were but to wash an Ethiop. 1635L. Foxe N. W. Fox 268, I have now washt the Black-moore these five yeares, having yet received neither Sallery, wages or reward. marg. Laboured in vaine. 1639J. Clarke Parœm. 155 He that washeth an asses head loseth both his lye and his labour. a1791[see Ethiop A]. 1845R. Ford Handbk. Spain i. 65 It is loss of time and soap to wash an ass's head.
e. Phrase, to wash one's hands of: to disown responsibility for; to refuse to have any further connexion with.
So in Fr. and other mod. langs.; orig. an allusion to Pilate's washing his hands (Matt. xxvii. 24).
1554Lady Jane Grey Epistle B vij, I wil wash my hands giltles thereof. 1570Buchanan Chamæleon Wks. (1892) 53 Pilat wesching his handis of ye deid of Chryst. 1642in Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §346 He said, ‘he should wash his hands before all the world from the least imputation of slackness.’ c1645Howell Lett. ii. xix. (1892) 411, I intend to spend my breath no longer upon them, but to wash my hands quite of the business. 1693Congreve Old Bach. ii. i, Mony is but Dirt Sir Joseph—Mere Dirt. Sir Jo. But I profess, 'tis a Dirt I have wash'd my Hands of at present. 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. iii, ‘Then I wash my hands of you,’ cries the doctor. 1766H. Walpole Let. to Lady M. Coke 3 Mar., Politics, of which I washed my hands for ever when I came away. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. vi, He had entirely washed his hands of the difficulty, and it had become ours. 1887‘Edna Lyall’ Knt.-Errant (1889) 29 You are incorrigible. I wash my hands of you.
¶ f. The expression ‘I will wash my hands in innocency’ (Ps. xxvi. 6) is echoed in the following passage, where the meaning is ‘to lead a life of heedless ease’.
1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 324 Who of all men living wash their hands most in carelesnesse, being never disturbed with worldly cares or incumbrances.
g. to wash one's hands: to rub the hands alternately one over the other, in imitation of the action of washing them. (Cf. Shakes. Macb. v. i. 33).
1563–83Foxe A. & M. 1493/2 Rogers..was burned into ashes, washing his handes in the flame as he was in burning. 1840Hood Miss Kilmansegg 315 (Christening) He..Seem'd washing his hands with invisible soap, In imperceptible water.
h. Of a cat, etc.: To cleanse (itself, its face) by licking and rubbing with its paw.
1661M. Stevenson Twelve Moneths 27 The Hare in a Furrow sits washing her face. 1792Burns Sic a Wife as Willie had 26 Auld baudrons by the ingle sits, An' wi' her loof her face a-washin'. 1858H. W. Dulcken Picture Fables 89 Why do you wash yourself, Pussy?
i. refl. To cleanse one's body, or (often) merely one's face and hands, with water.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 73 Wascheð ou and wonieð clene. a1225Ancr. R. 56 Ase heo weoschs hire. c1250Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 29, vi. Ydres of stone þet ware i-clepede baþieres wer þo gius hem wesse for clenesse. 1340Ayenb. 202 Elyseu þe profete het to naaman þet wes mezel þet he him wesse ine þe flom Jordan zeueziþe. 1390Gower Conf. II. 254 Into his bath he wente anon And wyssh him clene as eny bon. c1449Pecock Repr. iv. viii. 468 That no man schulde take mete, but that he anoon bifore waischid him. 1596in Spalding Club Misc. I. 86 Eftir thei hed anes waschin tham selffis and dryit agane. 1632Lithgow Trav. iv. 142 They wash themselues in a Lauotoio. 1643Trapp Comm., Gen. xxxv. 2 We wash us every day; but, when to dine with great ones, we wash us with balls, and put on our best. 1711Addison Spect. No. 94 ⁋8 He threw off his Clothes with a Design to wash himself. 1887Bowen Virg. æn. ii. 719 Until I wash me again Clean in the running fountain.
j. intr. for refl. (= to wash oneself, one's hands, etc.).
c1175Lamb. Hom. 159 Þos fure kunnes teres boð þe fuwer wateres þa þe beoð ihaten us on to weschen. c1320Sir Tristr. 541 Þe king no seyd no more, But wesche and ȝede to mete. c1350Will. Palerne 2997 Whan þei samen hade souped & seþþe whasche after. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 28 Þei wesshen [v.r. wasscheden] and wypeden and wenten to þe dyner. 1470–85Malory Arthur i. x. 49 Anon as they had wasshen & rysen. a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 174, I woll not presume to wassche with yow & therfore I pray you hold me excused. Than was my lord Cardynall constrayned to wasshe alone, and my lord of Norfolke alone also. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. i. 157 Come Kate and wash, and welcome heartily. 1605P. Erondelle Fr. Gard. L 4 b, Come, wash with my Lady and me, We may wash well foure in a Basen. 1694E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. i. iii. (ed. 18) 410 No Earl is to wash with a Duke without the Dukes Permission. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess [Mar] 10 Mar., These served her coffee, kneeling; brought water when she washed, [etc.]. 1770G. White Selborne, To Barrington 8 Oct., As far as I can observe, many birds that dust themselves never wash. 1823Scott Quentin D. xi, And now wash speedily..and follow me. 1854Poultry Chron. I. 49 Here the birds can wash.
k. To cleanse, rinse, drench (the mouth, etc.) with a douche or medicinal application. Also with out.
1538Elyot Dict., Gargarisso, to gargaryshe or washe the mouthe and throte of a man. c1550H. Lloyd Treas. Health vi. C vj, Then let y⊇ pacyent fastyng hold this bage in his mouth & chaw it betwixt hys teeth, & after washe his mouth wyth warme wyne and Hony. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Sutherl. (Colburn) 43 The Colonel..began to wash out his mouth. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 583 Antral and attic cavities washed out with strong antiseptic solution. Ibid. VIII. 300 It is a good thing to keep washing out the vagina by antiseptic douches.
l. Said with reference to baptism.
⁋Used by Cheke to translate βαπτίζειν to baptize.
a1300Cursor M. 23686 Waters þat wete þan cristes flexs, and in batism his santes wexs. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9508 Adams synne was so grefe, Þat þyr was to God none so lefe, Þyt he ne shulde to helle gone But he were wasshe yn þe fonte stone. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 72 Joon hadde office of God to se Crist, and waishe him. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 123 All that ar wasshed in the floude of baptym. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 188 b/2 He baptysed our lord and wysshe hym where he had neuer fylthe. c1550Cheke Matt. xx. 22 Can ie..be wasched with yt wasching yt I schal be wasched withal. 1623Cockeram ii, To Wash. Belaue, Baptize. 1653R. Carpenter (title) The Anabaptist washt and washt, and shrunk in the washing.
m. fig. To cleanse from the stain of sin. Const. from, † of.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 157 Swiche teres scedde M. Magdalene þa heo wosch ure drihtenes fet and heo werð hire solf waschen of hire fule sunnen. a1310in Wright Lyric P. xxv. 70 Of blod ant water the stremes be, Us to whosshe from oure fon thre. 1340Ayenb. 112 Þe herte þet is..yclensed and ywesse be zoþe ssrifte. 1382Wyclif Rev. i. 5 The which..waschide [v.r. wesh] us fro oure synnes in his blood. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas viii. xiii. (1558) 8 As man most sinful I come vnto the well..For to be washen of mine iniquity. a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 23 Christ woushe us with his blood. c1650Binning Serm. Wks. (1735) 566 We are washen from the Guilt of our Sins. 1707Watts Hymn, ‘Not the Malicious’ iii, But we are wash'd in Jesus' blood, We're pardon'd thro' his name. 1874Sankey's Sacred Songs (1878) 45 Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
† n. To clear, free from blame or aspersion.
1659Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 405 Major-general Kelsey laboured to wash him.
o. to wash up: = sense 3 j. U.S.
1934in Webster. 1935Marsh & Jellett Nursing-Home Murder iii. 42 Thoms came into the [operating] theatre. ‘We ought to get washed up, sir,’ he said. 1947J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus 214 A neatness of a mechanic who has just washed up. 1967L. Block Deadly Honeymoon ii. 26 Wash up and change your clothes. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) i. xi. 145 She was glad when he came out of the bathroom and she could go in and wash up.
p. to wash one's hands: euphemistic expression for ‘to go to the lavatory’.
1938I. Goldberg Wonder of Words vi. 108 We are invited to wash our hands, or, if we wear dresses, to powder our noses. 1953R. Warner Escapade 119 She pointed to a large oak tree... ‘Stupid woman,’ said Lady Average. ‘If she wants to wash her hands, why doesn't she go to the house?’ 1966G. Greene Comedians i. iii. 84 He was out ‘washing his hands’, as he put it in polite English. 1974J. Gardner Return of Moriarty 291, I wonder if Rosie could, perhaps, take Miss Malloney to, er, to wash her hands.
4. a. To flush or drench (a substance) with water or other liquid, in order to remove impurities or to dissolve out some component.
a1650E. Norgate Miniatura (1919) 17 Then take the remayning grounds and wash them as before. 1651French Distill. iii. 71 This Oil must be washed in good store of water. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 407 By washing the residuum, a portion of it dissolves in the water. 1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 303 This crust, washed with anhydrous alcohol, breaks up into small crystals. 1853S. Hughes Gas-works 42 The process of washing the gas is adopted for the purpose of separating ammonia, and consists of passing the gas through a simple sheet of water 6 or 8 inches in depth. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 56 By washing the distilled liquid with water, the acetone may, therefore, be removed. 1874F. Clowes Pract. Chem. 44 A precipitate which has been filtered from the liquid in which it is suspended has often to be washed until perfectly free from the liquid adhering to it.
b. Of running water, rain, etc.: To pass over (a surface) so as to carry off adherent matter; to waste, abrade, or erode in its flow. Also with out.
1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §16 All the rayne that commeth shal washe the lande, and dryue away the dounge and the good moulde. 1801Farmer's Mag. Apr. 125 In cases where the stream is not rapid, and where there is little risk of the banks being washed or hurt during the summer months. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 399 Taking the water off without washing the land. 1817Byron Manfred i. ii. 124 A pathway, which the torrent Hath wash'd since winter. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. viii. 263 The glacier..is flanked by mountains which are washed by rain. 1894Crockett Raiders 13 The moon..of early April, clean washen by the rains. 1897J. L. Allen Choir Invisible v. 65 This stream flows unseen beneath the streets of the city now with scarce current enough to wash out its grimy channel.
II. To subject to the action of water or other liquid.
5. a. To bathe, lave (the body, limbs, wounds, etc.) with water or other liquid.
Where the reference is to wounds, there is sometimes the additional notion of cleansing from blood, pus, etc.: cf. sense 3.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 83 He weis his wunde mid wine. 1387Trevisa Higden VIII. 235 Þan he wesche [v.rr. weesche, wuesch] þe woundes of þe ymage of the crucifixe. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 199 Þanne waische þe lyme wiþ a decoccioun of malowis & violet & rotis of bismalue in watir. c1470Henry Wallace viii. 787 The wery ost..Wysche woundis with wyn, off thaim that was wnsound. 1481Caxton Reynard xliii. (Arb.) 116 Wyse Maistres and Surgyens,..bonde them, and weeshe hem [sc. the wounds]. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 354 After this my rubbing and being washt with Salt and Vineger. 1626Bacon Sylva §998 The Wound must be at first Washed cleane, with White Wine. 1686–7in Spalding Club Misc. V. 237 He saw Alex. Chalmer, his hand blooding, after it was washen, being hurt. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 37 A solution of the muriat of mercury in alcohol, to wash the affected parts with twice a day.
b. To bathe (the eyes). Also, to wash clean, wash clear. † Also transf. (jocularly), to clear or sharpen the sight of (the eyes) with strong drink (cf. next).
c1200Vices & Virtues 125 Wassce and wipe wol clane ða eiȝene, for ðan soð is ðat hie ðe siggen. a1300Cursor M. 13571 Ga wasse þin eien þar. c1420Chron. Vilod. 2826 Þis bysone mon to þat water he ladde And wosshe þere-wt his ynon two. 16..Chalkhill in Walton Angler xvi. 210 We..Drink a cup to wash our eyes, Leave the sluggard sleeping. 1826Scott Woodst. xxxviii, His eyes washed with only a single cup of canary. 1831― Cast. Dang. ii, Thou shalt have no cause to complain that thine eyes..have been damaged by a Scottish mist, while we can find an English coin to pay for the good liquor which should wash them clear.
c. To moisten (the throat) with wine. † Hence to wash one's brain, head, etc., as jocular expressions for wine-drinking.
1390Gower Conf. II. 176 For Bachus was a glotoun eke, Him for the throte thei beseke, That he it wolde waisshen ofte With swote drinkes and with softe. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. i. H ij b, My teth be al to furrid with flakes of skurfe (sticking vpon them syns I washed them with any merye go downe). 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. D 4, He that washeth his braines with diuers kinds of wines, is the next doore to a drunken man. 1590Lodge Rosalynde (1592) F 3, Washing their heades well with wine. 1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. v. iv, I'le wash my temples with some on't presently. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vii. 105. 1618 Fletcher Loyal Subj. iv. v. init., Beleeve me fellow here will be lusty drinking. Many a washt pate in wine I warrant thee.
†d. intr. for refl. To use cosmetic washes. Obs.
1676G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. i. 22 Young Ladies, Who notoriously wash, and paint, though they Have naturally good Complexions. 1693Southerne Maid's Last Prayer ii. i, I may Wash, and Patch, and please my self.
6. a. To plunge, bathe (a person) in a river or lake.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xii. (1495) 446 In Ethiopia is a lake and yf a body be wassh therin he shinyth as though he were anoynted wyth oyle. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 129 Having washed him in a lake..they cloath him in a white gown.
†b. refl. Used for: To bathe. Obs. (? In later use jocular.)
1388[see 6 c.]. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 414 b/1 The emperour frederyk vysyted the holy londe and wysshe hym in a ryuer. 1511Guylforde's Pilgr. (Camden) 42 There we wesshe us, and bayned us all nakyd in the water of Iordan. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 103 He went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont, and being taken with the crampe, was droun'd. 1711Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 195 One Mr. Reynalds..was drown'd by Ferry Hinksey, he being washing himself, but not able to swim. 1775Burke Corr. (1844) II. 38 My brother is washing himself at Brighthelmstone.
c. intr. for refl. To bathe. Obs. exc. of animals.
1382Wyclif 2 Kings v. 14 He wente doun, and wasche [1388 waischide hym] in Jordane seuen sithis. 1621J. Taylor (Water P.) Motto E 2, Old Chaucer, Sidney, Spencer, Daniel, Nash, I dipt my finger where they vs'd to wash. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 12 The ‘Wire Pond’, where the horses came to wash.
†d. trans. To dip, plunge, immerse (a thing) in water. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. met. vi. (1886) 111 Ne the same sterre vrsa nis neuer mo wasshen in the depe westrene see [L. nunquam occiduo lota profundo]. c1386― Pard. T. 25 If that this boon be wasshe in any welle.
e. to wash one's spears (sc. in blood): a phrase attributed to South African chiefs as expressing their motive for going to war.
1892Rider Haggard Nada v, With every moon a fresh impi started to wash its spears, and came back few and thin. 1903Bryce Stud. Contemp. Biogr. 221 In one thing the young men [Sir Stafford Northcote's followers], who, like Zulu warriors, wished to wash their spears, were right and he was wrong.
7. a. To wet or moisten thoroughly; to inundate or saturate with water (esp. rain) or other liquid; to sprinkle or pour water upon.
c1205Lay. 17188 Heo wasceð [c 1275 wasseþ] þene stan, & þer mide baðieð heore ban. a1300Cursor M. 1997 Now es..þe erth waiker þan it was þan, Thoru þe watur þat it sua wex, þer-for behoues now man ete flesse. c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 766 Reyn shal thee wasshe, and sonne shal thee drye. 1390Gower Conf. I. 138 Til that the water of the hevene Have waisshen him be times sevene. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 18570 Pirrus.. hewe to gobetis al hir flesch, And with hir blod the tombe wesch. 1535Coverdale Isa. xxxiv. 7 Their londe shalbe washed [1611 soaked] with bloude. 1538Elyot Dict., Roresco, to be washed with dewe. 1577Kendall Flowers Epigr., Trifles 13 A powryng shower that..well the kyng did washe. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 104 Therefore the Moone (the gouernesse of floods)..washes all the aire. 1596― Tam. Shr. ii. i. 174 She lookes as cleere As morning Roses newly washt with dew. 1596Edw. III, iii. ii. 23 He, that no sooner will prouide a Cloake, Then when he sees it doth begin to raigne, May, peraduenture, for his negligence, Be thoroughly washed, when he suspects it not. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 35 Ever and anon our Sails were wash'd by the Waves. 1724Ramsay Vision xxviii, Flora..New washen with a showir of May. 1783Cowper Rose 1 The rose had been wash'd, just wash'd in a shower. 1810Scott Lady of L. iv. i, The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew.
b. To wet copiously (with tears).
Chiefly in religious use, after Ps. vi. 6 Vulgate, lavabo lectum meum, and with reference to Luke vii. 38.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 65 Swo ich wile biwepe mine synnes þat mi bed bie iwasshen mid mine teares. Ibid. 151 He wasseð his neb mid teares. c1300Judas 125 in E.E.P. (1862) 110 His fet heo wosch wiþ hire teres. 1340Ayenb. 171 He ssel grat zorȝe habbe..and ofte mid his teares his bed wesse. c1400Love Bonavent. Mirr. xlvii, And þer wyth of þe habundaunce of teres sche woschsse muche bettere hys heuede. 1450Paston Lett. I. 124, I..have soo wesshe this litel bille with sorwfulle terys, that [etc.]. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 239 He, a marble to her teares, is washed with them, but relents not.
c. With predicative extension: To form in (holes) by the action of dropping or running water. Similarly, to form a hole or depression in (a surface) by erosion.
1766Complete Farmer s.v. Walk, The dripping of the water from their branches in hard rains, is apt to wash the gravel in holes, and render the walks very unsightly. 1911Concise Oxford Dict. s.v., Water had washed a channel.
†8. To sweat (gold or silver coin) by the application of acids. Obs.
Distinct from the ‘washing’ of coin forbidden in 19th-c. statutes: see 9 c.
1421–2Hoccleve Min. P. xxi. 106 How may it [gold coin] holde his peise when it is waishe so that it lackethe somewhat in thiknese? 1543tr. Act 3 Hen. V, c. 6 They that so do clyp, wasshe, and fyle the money of the lande, shalbe iudged traytours to the kynge and to the realme. a1547in J. R. Boyle Hedon (1875) App. 88 Of them that countrefetes, clypis, washes, or fylis the Kinges coyne. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxix. §12 To wash or clip that coyne which hath on it the marke of God. 1643Docq. Lett. Patent at Oxf. (1837) 45 Pardon..for counterfeiting forging clipping washing or falsefying Money of Gold or silver.
9. a. To cover or smear (a surface) with a liquid substance lightly applied. Also with over.
1755Art of Drawing in Perspective 91 When these are dry, wash all over with the white Varnish before the Fire. 1854M. L. Charlesworth Minist. Children v. 60 [She] washed over the tops of the loaves with a feather dipped in beer.
b. To cover (a wall, etc.) with pigment mixed with water or watery liquid; to whitewash or colour-wash.
1604Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 157 A plasterer,..v days plasteringe and wasshinge in the chambers on the soth syed, ijs jd. 1606Ibid. 172 A plasterer, v days wasshinge the halle and dyninge chamber, ijs vjd. 1722Lond. Gaz. No. 6103/3 The Walls of the Houses were washed with Water in which Lime had been slaked. 1826Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 296 The windmills..are all painted or washed white.
c. To cover with a film of metal deposited from a solution.
1792Gentl. Mag. LXII. i. 19/1 A chain and medal..is silver washed over with gold. 1853Humphreys Coin Coll. Man. xxvi. 381 The ten-centime piece of Napoleon..being of copper washed with silver. 1861Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 99 §1 Any of the current Coin which shall have been gilt, silvered, washed, coloured, or cased over..so as to resemble..any of the Queen's current Coin of a higher Denomination.
10. a. Water-colour Painting. To cover with a broad layer of colour by a continuous movement of the brush; to depict (a coloured surface) by this means; to lay (colour) in washes. to wash in: to depict (a portion of a subject) with a wash of colour. Also with over.
1622Peacham Comp. Gentl. xii. 110 Beginne first to wash ouer some plaine printes. a1650E. Norgate Miniatura (1919) 30 In your dead colourings, you must wash over and colour your ground and complexion, with this red. Ibid. 32 Washing the colour with a bold hand. Ibid. 50 When you have..sleigtly washt in your skie. 1662Atwell Faithf. Surveyor 53 Arable for corn you may wash with pale straw-colour made of yellow-ocre and white-lead. 1675A. Browne Appendix Art Paint. 13, 14 That manner I do approve of better, for Washing or Drawing any Design with Indian Ink, and indeed ought not be called Limning but Washing. 1755Art of Drawing in Perspective 9 Sometimes the Design is washed, that is, the Shadows are done with a Pencil in Indian Ink, or some other Liquor. 1807J. Landseer Lect. Engraving iii. 132 A drawing washed with bistre or Indian ink. 1843Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 5 Gaspar..washes his sky half blue and half yellow. 1860Smiles Self Help v. 125 He [Turner] was glad to hire himself out at half-a-crown a night to wash in skies in Indian ink upon other people's drawings. 1860J. D. Hooker Flora Tasmania II. 372 The scape should be washed over with a pale brown, leaving hardly a trace of green. 1871Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 1872, 406 The bushes..may be washed in with Indian yellow. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 396 Copley Fielding taught me to wash colour smoothly in successive tints.
fig.1861J. Brown Horæ Subs. Ser. ii. 249 Such a man as I have sketched, or washed faintly in, as the painters say.
b. transf. in pass.. Said in Natural History of surfaces that appear to have a superficial layer of colour spread over them.
1844Blyth in Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Bengal XIII. i. 466 The legs and feet..are pale; the hands are washed with blackish. 1888P. L. Sclater Argentine Ornith. I. 25 Tail-feathers black, washed with blue. 1894R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 25 The intermediate form..differs from the typical bird in having the head and throat washed with purple.
11. Mining. To agitate in water, or to pass a stream of water through (metalliferous earth) in order to separate the metallic particles.
1543Mem. Fountains Abbey (Surtees) I. 403 For washinge the leade ure at Grenehow morr. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 212 Then they washe all the earthe... And if herein they fynde any golde, they folowe it. 1619S. Atkinson Gold Mynes Scot. (Bannatyne Club) 1 The buddle where the same earth must be reudled or washed. 1853C. R. Read Austral. Gold Fields 34 In many cases men used to pay other {pstlg}20 a-week to be allowed to wash their tailings. 1863B. A. Heywood Vac. Tour Antipodes 48 The Chinese..have been known to wash over again the deserted washings of the Europeans, and to find gold in paying quantities.
b. absol.
1604G. Bowes in Cochran-Patrick Early Rec. Mining Scot. (1878) 107, I bestowed my workemen to washe for golde in Whites meadowe. 18..C. A. Goodrich Child's Hist. U.S. (1882) 122 Men..were found gathered there..washing for gold.
c. to wash up: to retrieve (gold) from the riffles, sluices, etc., in which it has collected during washing. Also absol.
1869J. Anderson Sawney's Lett. (ed. 2) 27 Now say, what have you ‘wash'd up’? Small wages. 1874A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xi. 142 After some months' hard work, we would wash up, and my mate would go off to sell the gold. 1900B. Harte From Sand Hill to Pine 103 To dig for three or four hours in the morning, smoke their pipes..for an hour at noon, take up their labors again until sunset, when they ‘washed up’ and gathered sufficient gold to pay for their daily wants, was..the realization of a charming socialist ideal.
III. Of flowing water: To flow past or over land.
12. a. Of a sea or river: To flow over or past (the sand, shore, coast); to beat upon (walls, cliffs, etc.); to touch, adjoin (a town, country, etc.). Also of a river: To pass through, ‘water’ (a country).
c1205Lay. 123, I þere Tyure he eode alond þer þa sea wasceð þat sond. 1538Elyot Dict., Subluere, to vnder⁓washe, as water, whyche runneth lowe vnder a banke or hylle, and washeth the foote thereof. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xii. 47 The two sides are washed by the sea. 1591Spenser Vis. Bellay 158 The golden grayle That bright Pactolus washeth with his streames. 1697Dryden æneis viii. 90 In Times to come My Waves shall wash the Walls of mighty Rome. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 329 They seldom stretch into Rivers at length, but stagnate in the Low Grounds, which they wash. 1700Chauncy Hertfordsh. 3 The Bulborne..washing the North East side of Barkhamsted. 1814Cary Dante, Parad. viii. 69 The crown, Which gave me sovereignty over the land By Danube wash'd. 1839Thirlwall Greece VI. xlix. 168 The waves washed the foot of the cliffs. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xxiv, A small village, washed by the brook. 1877Huxley Physiogr. 45 The British Isles, washed by warm water on their western shores, are peculiarly subject to fogs.
transf.1902Kipling Five Nations (1903) 64 The granite of the ancient North—Great spaces washed with sun.
b. intr. Of waves: To sweep over a surface; to break or surge against (the shore, etc.); to break in.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist., Hist. Earth xvii. (1824) I. 122 The tides,..constantly washing over them, have always left some part of their substance behind. 1831James Phil. Augustus xxxi, Nothing was..heard but the rippling of the waters of the Seine, then at high tide, washing against the very foundations of the tower. 1873Black Pr. Thule viii. 119 The tiny waves that washed in on the white shore. 1885Froude Oceana xvi. 243 The lightest ripple washed over the gunwale.
transf.1920In the Mountains 132 It is a very good practice..to lean out of one's window..before going to bed and let the cool darkness wash over one.
c. Used by onomatopœia to suggest the sound of moving water, or of objects moving in water.
1842Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 70, I heard the ripple washing in the reeds. 18..J. Ingelow Days without Alloy iii. (Funk), Then I hear the water washing, never golden waves were brighter. 1891Century Dict., Wash, to make a swish, swash, or swirl of the water; as, the shad are washing.
IV. To remove, or carry away, by the action of water or other liquid.
13. a. trans. To remove (dirt, a stain, colouring, etc.) by the application of water or other liquid. Chiefly with adv., as away, out, off.
c1400Beryn 661 Yet, or he cam in company, he wissh a-wey the blood. c1450Mirk's Festial 90 Then was þys woman agrysed of þe blod, and wold haue weschyn hit away. 1513Douglas æneis ix. (last line), All blude and slauchtyr away was weschyn clene. 1562Turner Herbal ii. 32 Bay berries..weish out frekles. 1581A. Hall Iliad iv. 66 After he had beheld the stroke, and washte away the bloud. 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. ii. 60 Will all great Neptunes Ocean wash this blood Cleane from my Hand? 1663Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxxv. (1687) 437 Would you not have us pull off the Mask or wash off the paint, that we may shew things in their proper colours? 1681tr. Belon's Myst. Physick Introd. 45 The Volatil Salt..is to be washed off with the said Water. 1755Art of Drawing in Perspective 91 Then wash off the Tripoli with a soft Sponge and Water. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xxiv. (1842) 629 Agitate it [the gas] with water to wash out the sulphurous acid. 1831James Phil. Augustus xxxiv, Though the blood of his nephew was scarce washed from his hands. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 868 Washing discharge away with sublimate solution.
b. fig.
Very common in reference to sin, etc. regarded as a stain or defilement. In early use often without adv.
a1225Ancr. R. 324 Euerich god word, & euerich god werc wascheð smele sunnen. a1240Ureisun in O.E. Hom. I. 189 As wis ase drope of þi deorwurþe blod mahte waschen a-wai alle folkes fulþe. a1300Cursor M. 1594 God..thoght a neu wengaunce to sent,..And waass þat wrang, þat was sa rijf. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9544 Whan Ihesu was baptysed þer-ynne [sc. in Jordan] For to wasshe awey þat synne. 14..Pol., Rel. & L. Poems 142 That..thy .v. woundis..May wach in vs all surfetis reproueable. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. li. i, O clense, O wash my foule iniquitie. 1664Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 121 His subjects..have with their ancient loyalty washed out the staines of the late Rebellion. 1709Prior Henry & Emma 313 Nor Tears, that wash out Sin, can wash out Shame. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxi. III. 238 The ignominious lashes, which they had formerly received, were washed away in the blood of the guilty, or obnoxious, families. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 130 This merit was thought sufficient to wash out even the stain of his Saxon extraction. 1880Ld. Acton Lett. to Mary Gladstone (1904) 38 The Republican party..had a good deal of dirty work to wash off.
c. transf. and fig. To blot out, obliterate, cancel.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 289 Ȝif chartris of men ben contrarie to goddis lawe, þes chartres schulde be wayschen and goddis lawe schulde stonde. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 703 The brotherly loue betwene them washed away and diminished all suspicion. 1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. v. ii. (1886) 74 Bodin washeth away all our arguments with one word. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 236 Now of these three causes before specified, the first doth not wash away envie.
d. intr. with out. Of colouring matter: To disappear from a fabric when washed.
1755in 6th Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. App. ii. 128 A certain Liquid Composition..which..will neither Wash Out, Fade, or Tarnish. 1972J. Wilson Hide & Seek vii. 122, I am making a purse..but I pricked my finger and got a bit of blood on it, but..it will wash out.
e. to wash out (trans.): (i) to obliterate, cancel, remove.
1580H. F. Pelegrom. Syn. Sylva 70 To Crosse or Cancell out, or to wash out writinges. 1616Withals' Dict. 563 Lutum luto purgare. To wash out incke with incke. 1763Spens Plato's Repub. iv. 151 Such wool as is not managed in this manner, you know what sort it proves; whether one is dying other colours, or this one, without the due preparation beforehand. I know, said he, that they are easily washen out. 1850Smedley F. Fairlegh xxvi, This Wilford is a noted duellist, and no doubt thirsts to wash out the insult he has received in blood. 1859FitzGerald Omar li, Nor [shall] all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. 1932R. Niebuhr Moral Man & Immoral Society (1933) iii. 81 It will prevent the idea of justice, which is a politico-ethical ideal, from becoming a purely political one, with the ethical element washed out. 1983Sci. Amer. Feb. 86/3 Coronal structure hinted at in ordinary photographs is largely washed out by overexposure of the bright inner corona.
(ii) colloq. To call off (an event), esp. because of bad weather; to eliminate (a possible course of action). Usu. pass.
1917A. G. Lee Let. 25 May in No Parachute (1968) 24 Today I have two patrols, one this morning..but after an hour it was washed out through bad weather. 1933P. MacDonald Mystery of Dead Police vii. 49 I'll get that murder charge washed out altogether. 1953‘N. Shute’ In Wet v. 149 If there's an awful lot of work before we go, I might have to wash it out. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 8 Apr. (1970) 104 When the commentator inquired about the possibility of McNamara [being Vice-President] and pointed out that he had been a registered Republican at one time, Lippman rather washed that one out. 1977Belfast Tel. 14 Feb. 22/4 Bangor's first ever mid-week racing fixture..was washed out today when stewards inspected the course and found it waterlogged.
(iii) Air Force slang. To kill (an airman) in a crash; to crash (an aircraft); also (const. of or from), to withdraw (a person) from a course. Usu. pass.
1918J. M. Grider War Birds (1926) 87 Wholesale funerals... Six American Naval pilots..thought that Camels were as easy to fly as the Hanriots they had been flying in France and they wouldn't listen to any advice from the instructors here. Three of them were washed out one week. 1927C. A. Lindbergh We v. 73 Coupled with this was the anxiety of waiting for the returns from our examination papers, the failure of any two of which would be sufficient cause for their owner to be washed out from the courses. 1928Pop. Sci. Monthly May 72 That Kiwi washed out the only peppy crate in the outfit. 1942F. H. Joseph Lett. home from Brit. at War 16 Three planes were washed out completely, others damaged. 1943Yank 30 July 18 The air cadet needed only 20 flying hours for his commission when he was suddenly washed out of advanced training and shipped. 1979M. Hastings Bomber Command vi. 145 Owen was washed out of pilot training within a fortnight, and posted to learn to be a navigator.
14. trans. to wash down: to swallow liquor along with or after (solid food), in order to assist deglutition or digestion. Also with fig. object. Also rarely to wash over.
16001st Pt. Sir J. Oldcastle v. viii. 41 In this one draught I wash my sorrow downe. 1649Lovelace Being treated, To Ellinda 4 Flutes of Canary That well did wash downe pasties-mary. 1744M. Bishop Life & Adv. 193, I had three plentiful Meals, and some good Liquors to wash it down. 1848Dickens Dombey xxxviii, This profound reflection Mr. Toodle washed down with a pint mug of tea. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. ii. (1901) I. 13 Then a good cut out of the middle of a well-browned saddle of mutton, wash it over with a few glasses of iced champagne. 1859Jephson Brittany ix. 151 This we washed down with a..‘bowl’ of mulled Bordeaux.
15. a. Of waves, running water, rain, etc.: To remove, dislodge, carry away; to carry or transport in a specified direction. With advs. away, down, off, out, up, etc., or const. from, into, out of, etc. Also fig.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 163 Til Fourti dawes ben folfuld þat þe flod haue I-wassche Clene awey þe cursede blod þat Caym haþ I-maket. a1500Bernardus, etc. iii. 82 He walde þat A watter, or a well, hayd wecht it away. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 212 The water wassheth the earth..owte of the trais. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 71 What wilt thou wash him from his graue with teares? 1593― 3 Hen. VI, v. iv. 31 Bestride the Rock, the Tyde will wash you off. 1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Merry-Wherry-Ferry Voy. Wks. 1630 ii. 10/2 The raging Sea..euery day..eateth further in, Still..wasting, washing downe the sand doth win. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 44 Waters and burns flowed over bank and brae, corn mills and mill-houses washen down, [etc.]. 1674Jackson's Recant. A 2, A Clod of Earth, which..the least shower of Rheums [can] wash away to nothing. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmorld. & Cumbld. xiv. 81 Violent Currents of Water wash off the outer Coat of the Earth, and leave the Vein naked. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 180 That the Rain-water may spread equally, and not wash down the Ground. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iii. 152 Several pieces of beef..had been washed out of the ship. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes xi, The river has washed away its banks. 1858E. J. Trelawny Recoll. Shelley etc. 120 The other body was washed on shore three miles distant from Shelley's. 1883Manch. Guard. 18 Oct. 4/7 The bodies of five seamen have been washed ashore. 1929Times 30 Oct. 14/1 Trans-America, which closed last night at 6½, opened today at 201/4,..—$840,000,000..nominally washed away over-night.
b. To separate (metallic particles) by treating the containing earth with water. Also to wash out.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 212 These mynes..owght euer to bee soughte nere to sum ryuer..to thende that the golde may be wasshed. 1665Phil. Trans. I. 117 A peculiar way of washing out very small Dust-gold. 1748Anson's Voy. i. v. 50 The washing the gold..from the sand and dirt, with which it is always mixed. 1920Conquest May 324/1 Potassium and sodium cyanides are employed..for the purpose of washing out the gold from the quartz.
c. Of a hard surface: To beat off waves and flotsam as they are borne against it.
1697Dryden æneis vii. 812 His solid sides Wash off the Sea-weeds, and the sounding Tides.
d. intr. To be carried away or detached by moving water. Chiefly of soil, etc.: To be eroded or abraded, wear away by inundation. Chiefly with adv., as away, down.
c1590Marlowe Jew of Malta i. ii. 451 Who..Thinke me to be a senselesse lumpe of clay That will with euery water wash to dirt. 1653Walton Angler viii. 171 You must work or pound it [sc. your paste] so long in the Mortar, as to make it so tough as to hang upon your hook without washing from it. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmorld. & Cumbld. vii. 47 Whose Soil, by great Rains and Floods, washeth down into the Vallies. 1789W. Jessop in Rep. Engin. Thames-Isis Navig. (1791) 23 If the Stones are set in moss and wrecked full of Gravel to prevent the Earth from Washing from behind thro' the Joints. 1822Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 13 It [the soil] has great tenacity; does not wash away like sand or light loam.
16. To be tossed about, to be carried or driven along, by waves or stream. Also with up, ashore, etc. Also fig.
1623J. Taylor (Water P.) New Discov. by Sea A 5, These sands so shallow In which thou seest our ship thus wash and wallow. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 22 Four or five dead Bodies at a time..washing about the Decks. Ibid. 154 Our Bedding was..left washing in the Break of The Sea. 1815Ann. Reg., Chron. 83 The vessel struck on the ground..and afterwards washed up against the piles on the west side. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. ix, War-Minister Narbonne is washed away by the Time-flood; poor Chevalier de Grave, chosen by the Court, is fast washing away. 1880Times 17 Dec. 5/6 The Adolph..is reported..to be total wreck. Cargo washing ashore. 1907Daily Chron. 26 Sept. 6/5, I was glad to lay hold of a spar that washed by me. 1947G. Greene Nineteen Stories 74 And so he'd washed up here, under my eyes, sitting all day under the band⁓stand.
17. Rowing.
a. trans. To steer so as to impede (a competitor) by the ‘wash’ of one's own boat.
1865Field 26 Aug. 152/2 His next step, when half a length ahead, was to edge in as much as he dare in front of Kelley, notwithstanding the admonition of the umpire, for the purpose of washing him. 1872Field Q. Mag. III. 107/1 [Cambridge] passed under the Middlesex arch of Barnes Bridge..a length and a half ahead of the Oxonians, who, to escape being washed, elected to pass under the centre span.
b. intr. in phrase to wash out, to fail to lift out the blade of the oar squarely at the finish of the stroke.
1884St. James's Gaz. 28 Mar. 6/2 Stroke and No. 4 were washing out and rowing light in the finish of the stroke.
18. slang. To murder. Also with away.
1941in B. A. Botkin Treas. Amer. Folklore (1944) i. 124 So Stack, with his gun handle filled with notches, knowed there was a reward out for him for men he had washed away. 1960‘E. McBain’ See them Die (1963) v. 48 ‘This Alfredo kid, he not sush a bad guy.’ ‘He's getting washed and that's it.’ 1979P. Hill Washermen xxiv. 54 They had broken the code... The Washermen must be washed.
V.
19. Mech. (trans.) to wash off, to cut to a slope or bevel. to wash down (see quot. 1911).
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1117 The sole for the [window-] frame..to be washed off (sloped) on the outside to carry off the rain. 1911Webster, To wash down, to work to a thin edge or featheredge. Scot.
VI.
20. slang. a. Printing. To punish or ‘rag’ (a fellow-workman for telling falsehoods) by hammering on his desk. Cf. washing vbl. n. 5.
1841Savage Dict. Printing 810.
b. Stockbroking. To subject (stock) to a ‘wash’: see wash n. 20. [Perh. orig. with allusion to the phrase ‘one hand washes the other’ (see 3 d).]
1895Funk's Stand. Dict. 1903S. S. Pratt Work of Wall St. 146 The syndicate may be washing sales by matched orders through curb brokers in order to market watered stock.
c. = launder v. 1 b.
1973Black Panther 30 June 2/2 The money had been ‘washed’ through the Mexican bank passing off as a legal fee to the Mexican lawyer in order to conceal the source of the donation. 1977B. Freemantle Charlie Muffin xii. 127 We must wash the money... If that money isn't broken down, Kalenin..just won't cross. 1981R. Thomas Mordida Man xxvii. 237 What was their payoff for washing the money?
VII. 21. The verb-stem in combination. a. Combinations of wash- + object, ‘(some one or something) that washes’, as wash-dish 1, wash-hand a., washmouth.
b. (Not all clearly distinguishable from the Combs. listed in sense 21 of the n. above.) Attributive combinations of wash- (often synonymous with parallel combs. of washing vbl. n.), denoting things or places used for washing, or persons employed in washing clothes, as wash-boy, wash-cloth, wash-jug, wash-place, wash-rag (now U.S.), wash-solution, wash-tray, wash-vessel; wash-and-wear orig. U.S., the property of a garment or fabric of being easily washed, drying readily, and needing no ironing; usu. attrib.; wash-beetle, a wooden mallet for beating clothes as part of the process of washing; wash-bench U.S., a bench on which washing is done; wash-boiler (see quot. 1875); wash-bottle Chem. (a) a bottle containing liquid through which gases may be passed for purification; (b) a bottle with a mouthpiece and issue tube, for directing a stream of liquid on a substance or utensil to be washed; wash-brush, a large brush for ‘washing’ or laying on washes of colour; wash-cloth U.S., a facecloth; wash-deck attrib. Naut., used in, or pertaining to, the washing of the deck of a ship; wash-deck tub (slang), a small boat, with decks easily washed by the sea; wash-dyke dial. = wash-pool; wash-gourd, the loofah (Webster Suppl. 1902), also called washing-, towel-gourd; wash-kettle U.S., a kettle in which water is heated for washing; wash-kitchen [= G. waschküche], a kitchen used for washing clothes; wash-line chiefly U.S. = washing-line s.v. washing vbl. n. 9 a; wash-pan U.S., a metal wash bowl; a pan for washing ore; wash-pen Austral. and N.Z., the pen into which sheep are driven to await their turn to be washed; wash-pitcher U.S., a ewer for the toilet; wash sink U.S., a sink for washing oneself; wash-table, a table for holding a wash-hand basin and ewer. Also in combs. denoting machinery used for washing in various industrial processes, as wash-drill, wash-stocks, wash-wheel.
1959Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring/Summer 493/1 *Wash and wear suits... Launder by hand or washing machine... Machine-dry or drip-dry. 1966Wall St. Jrnl. 11 Feb. 1/1 Permanent press differs from wash-and-wear... Wash-and-wear doesn't involve baking, but rather depends on the blending of synthetic and natural fibers for wrinkle resistance. Also, wash-and-wear has no permanent crease. 1981Clark & Swaine Home Managem. x. 251 The more sophisticated American machines may have a choice of programmes, e.g...synthetics with pre-wash, wash and wear and cold wash. 1981M. C. Smith Gorky Park i. xii. 164 Parties the Film-Makers Union gave for foreign guests, where the civilized appreciation of a bottle of French perfume or a wash-and-wear skirt was routine.
c1555Harpsfield Divorce Henry VIII (Camden) 276 One in Kent..all to beat her yokemate with a *washbeetle or battledore.
1843*Wash-bench [see ironing board s.v. ironing vbl. n. 1]. 1884G. W. Cable Dr. Sevier I. xxi. 157 She had reached down and taken from the wash-bench the lump of yellow soap. 1969N. W. Parsons Upon Sagebrush Harp xxiv. 132 The man was wiping his neck on the roller towel hung above the outdoor washbench.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2726 *Wash boiler, a domestic boiler for clothes. 1913G. S. Porter Laddie vii. (1917) 124 While Sarah Hood cooked other things, and made a wash-boiler of coffee.
1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 40 This gas..is partially purified by passing through a *wash-bottle containing caustic potash or soda. 1912Nature 19 Dec. 437/2 The experiment succeeds about equally well even when distilled water from a wash-bottle is substituted for powerful reagents.
1900Wide World Mag. Oct. 97/2 We asked of one of the Celestials (our own *wash-boy for the past seven years) permission to take a photograph of the queer scene.
1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 6/2 To tint large surfaces, a large camel-hair brush is used, termed a *Wash-brush. 1901Macm. Mag. Apr. 470/1 She produced from her pocket my wash-brush... ‘What in the world is a brush of that size used for?’ she went on.
1915G. S. Porter M. O'Halloran i. 20 The pieces he saved for *washcloths. 1949M. Mead Male & Female xii. 262 A baby's face gently washed with a supersoft wash-cloth. 1978Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. (Parade Suppl). 14e/1 (Advt.), Bath towel, hand towel & washcloth—all cuddly cotton terry.
1878E. Wakeman Log of Ancient Mariner ii. 41 Him I had lowered from the bow one dark night, into the *wash-deck tub, in which he paddled to a little schooner close to. 1884Naval Encycl. 835/1 Wash⁓deck Gear, the brooms, squilgees, holy-stones, buckets, etc., used in washing decks. 1901F. T. Bullen Sack of Shakings 98 One morning, at wash-deck time, when I was prowling around forrard [etc.]. Ibid. 115 The wash-deck tub was hauled forrard. 1938C. S. Forester Ship of Line i. 22 His captain's admission that he, too, had baths under the washdeck pump.
1907Contrib. Econ. Geol., U.S. Geol. Surv., Bulletin 648 (Cent.) The borings through the alluvium were made by the ‘*wash drill’ or ‘water jet’.
1765Local Act, Road Barton–Riseham, Lincs. 9 Sheep going to or returning from any *Wash⁓dyke.
1927W. de la Mare Stuff & Nonsense 54 It galloped up bolsters and *wash-jugs and chairs. 1946S. Spender European Witness ii. 18 A large enamel wash-jug.
1787Kentucky Gaz. 24 Nov. 2/3 Samuel Blair, Has for sale..a Quantity of excellent..copper and brass *wash kettles. 1882–3W. Whitman Specimen Days 23 They put wash-kettles on the fire for soup, for coffee. 1973A. Dundes Mother Wit p. xiii, The custom of placing an inverted wash kettle in the center of the floor during a prayer meeting so that the sounds of the singing might go into the pot and thereby not disturb the white folks.
1838C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron xxix. 206 Preparations were made for the wedding which she chose to have performed in the *wash-kitchen instead of our parlour. 1909‘Q’ (Quiller-Couch) True Tilda xx, One for Tilda in the wash-kitchen itself, the other for Arthur Miles in a small outhouse adjoining. 1922Joyce Ulysses 601 It was the daughter of the mother in the washkitchen that was fostersister to the heir of the house.
1890K. D. Wiggin Timothy's Quest 48 There's lots of baby-clothes hanging on the *wash⁓lines. 1952J. Steinbeck East of Eden vii. 56 They stole..garments from a wash line. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 157 Wash line winders are usually strictly utilitarian objects, without any collector interest.
1851*Washpan [see stuff n.1 4 d]. 1857J. D. Borthwick Three Yrs. in Calif. 124 A ‘prospecter’ goes with a pick and shovel, and a wash-pan. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxvii. 375 We..scratched around and found an old tin washpan. 1946G. Wilson Fidelity Folks 175 The tin washpan or the creek was good enough for that.
1855H. Phillips Rockwood Jrnl. (typescript) 20 John went with him to *Wash-pen in afternoon. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xii, Shearers' huts, wash-pens, machinery, and woolshed.
1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. i, Eliza had upset the *wash-pitcher.
1774J. Woodforde Diary 15 Oct. (1924) I. 141, I caught a remarkable large Spider in my *Wash Place. 1889Welch Text-bk. Naval Archit. xi. 130 The lift and force pumps draw from the sea-suctions of the various 9-inch Downton's, to supply the baths, wash places, galleys, etc.
1890E. L. Bynner Begum's Dau. iv, She employed the interval while her guests were at their luncheon in plying the *wash-rag and comb. 1899B. C. Hirst Text-bk. Obstet. v. ii. 677 Scrubbing the genital region most thoroughly with soap, hot water, and a soft bristle brush or a wash-rag. 1925F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby ii. 27 ‘It's more of an Airedale.’ He passed his hand over the brown washrag of a back. 1964S. Bellow Herzog 257 He got into her ears with the washrag as she screamed, cleaned off her face, the nostrils, wiped her mouth. 1978J. Updike Coup (1979) v. 192 Her momma's a washrag and her daddy's a redneck.
1857Lawrence (Kansas) Republ. 2 July 4 ‘Here are all the conveniences for washing,’ said the landlord, stepping to a mahogany *wash sink and raising the lid. 1873‘Mark Twain’ & Warner Gilded Age xxix. 270 It was a small room..with a wash-sink in one corner.
1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 18 The solution to wash the gas... The small tube passes down into the *wash solution.
1875Encycl. Brit. III. 813/2 (Bleaching) The *wash-stocks..consists of a trough or box for holding the goods to be washed, through which a constant stream of water is passing.
1908Daily Rep. 28 Aug. 8/2 Although late in the Empire period the square variety of *wash-table was sometimes used, it is clear that [etc.].
1909‘Q’ (Quiller-Couch) True Tilda xx, Two long *wash-trays stood ready and steaming.
1841S. Clegg Treat. Coal-Gas 110 If after condensation ‘dry lime’ is used for purifying, the gas must pass through a *wash-vessel.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 417 (Dyeing) The hydraulic relations refer to the *wash-wheels and other similar apparatus. 1897C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 331 Fig. 94 shows a view of the lime-vats,..while in the background is shown the ‘wash-wheel’.
c. In certain mining terms, denoting material from which metal is to be obtained by washing: wash-gravel, wash-stuff = wash-dirt; † wash-ore Lead-mining, ore ready for washing.
1653E. Manlove Lead-Mines 270 (E.D.S.) Stringes of oar, Wash-oar, and Pumps. 1860in Occas. Papers Univ. Sydney Austral. Lang. Res. Centre (1966) No. 9. 27 The runs of gold and lower deposits are not traceable to reefs but to made hills, composed principally of water-worn quartz nodules and debris, often cemented together with ferruginous matter, the wash⁓gravel resting on whitish or yellow felspathic schist. 1891Century Dict., Wash-gravel. Wash-stuff.
d. In recent use (originally U.S.), the verb-stem is often prefixed to names of garments and fabrics, with the sense ‘washable’: e.g. in wash-chamois, wash-foulard, wash-glacé kid, wash-glove, wash-gown, wash-pants, wash-ribbon, wash-silk, wash-waist.
In these combinations wash is often written as if a separate adj. Cf. washing ppl. a.
1888Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 23 June 6/3 Rural retreats where she can sleep ten hours out of the twenty-four, wear wash⁓gowns, and live out of doors all day long. 1902E. Banks Newspaper Girl 168 He wore neckties of wash-ribbon—which, though it cost more per yard than the ordinary ribbon, I found the most inexpensive in the end—without a bark of dissatisfaction. 1914‘Amélie Rives’ World's-End xii, A soft gown of white wash-silk fell in straight folds to her feet. 1941Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 3 July 10/7 (Advt.), Mens & boys swim trunks, wash pants, slack suits, sport shirts, etc. 1972J. Maryland in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out 210 Red and grown out of wash pants and levis to Oleg Cassini imported mohair suits. |