| 释义 |
▪ I. washing, vbl. n.|ˈwɒʃɪŋ|
[-ing1.
In OE. recorded only in the compound weascingweᵹ ‘washing-way’, ? ‘a road leading to a sheep-wash’.]
I. The action of wash v.
1. a. The action or an act of cleansing by water, or of laving or bathing with water or other liquid. Also fig. with reference to spiritual or moral purification.
a1225Ancr. R. 332 Þe wassunke ine fuluhte wiðuten bitocneð þe wasschunge of þe soule wiðinnen. c1305Land Cokaygne 48 Watir seruiþ þer to no þing Bot to siȝt and to waiissing. 1340Ayenb. 178 Ase þet line cloþ þet is y-huyted be ofte wessinge. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 53 Wasche wele þat legge..with hote watre... And so after þe waschyng lat it lye by a naturel day. 1466Stonor Papers (Camden) I. 92 For wosshyng of yowyr shertys and M. Wyllyams. 1508Fisher Penit. Ps. li. i. (1509) i i vj, If a table be foule and fylthy..fyrst we rase it, after whan it is rased we wasshe it, and laste after the wasshynge we wype and make it clene. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §51 Beware, that thou put not to many shepe in a penne at one tyme, neyther at the washyng, nor at the sheryng. 1587D. Fenner Song of Songs vi. 3 Thy teeth are like a flocke of sheepe which comme vp from washing. 1603in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 31 For the wysching of my chlos, xii d. 1636Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. 53 Stains of a deep dye will not out of the cloth, with such ordinary washings, as will fetch out lighter spots. c1650Binning Serm. Wks. (1735) 567 The Blood and Water might be joined, the justifying Saviour, and the sanctifying Spirit; for both these are in this Gospel Washing. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 234 Both these gentlemen depend on the clean washing of the seed, and the trials of both met with the wished-for success. 1829J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Nat. 149 It taints the fingers, which have touched it, with its peculiar odour, so that one washing does not remove it. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 77 The tubers are first freed from adhering earth by a thorough washing. 1869–71Cassell's Househ. Guide II. 50/2 The white things will require two washings. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 611 Every other evening a washing with naphthol and sulphur soap may be given in a bath.
†b. to give one's head (or beard) for the washing: to submit tamely to indignities (see head n. 65). Obs.
c1583[see head n. 65]. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden L 4, But the time was, when he would not haue giuen his head for the washing. 1613Beaum. & Fl. Cupid's Revenge iv. i, And so am I [sc. resolved], and forty more good fellows, That will not give their heads for the washing, I take it. a1616― Bonduca ii. iii, Car. And to morrow night say to him, His Head is mine. Jud. I can assure ye Captain, He will not give it for this washing. 1663[see head n. 65].
c. In reflexive sense.
1896Conan Doyle Rodney Stone vii, It was his custom to go through a whole series of washings and changings after even the shortest journey. 1911A. Plummer Ch. Brit. bef. A.D. 1000 I. 121 Abstention from washing was a common form of asceticism.
d. A ceremonial ablution. (By Sir John Cheke used for: Baptism.)
c1375Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. (MS. B.) 263 Til after wasshing þo preste wil loute þo auter. c1449Pecock Repr. iv. ix. 468 That the bodili waisching with water schulde clense the soule fro moral vnclennessis. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 65 These cerimonyes that this doctour calleth but small thynges, I suppose they be be as stacyons, inclynacyons, gestures, turnynges, wesshynge..& suche other. c1550Cheke Matt. xxi. 25 Joanns wasching from whens was it. from heaven, or from men. 1606Arraignmt. & Exec. Traytors D 1 b, Their pilgrimages to Idols, their shauings and their washings. 1644Milton M. Bucer Wks. 1851 IV. 308 We are not to use Circumcision, Sacrifice, and those bodily Washings prescrib'd to the Jews. 1698–9Osborn Let. in Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 147 Addressing themselves to their Devotions, with the most solemn and critical Washings. 1772Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 340 Washing..accompanied many of the Jewish rites. 1846S. Sharpe Hist. Egypt ix. 303 In their dislike of pork, in their washings, and in other Eastern customs, they [the Jews] were like the Egyptians.
e. spec. = ‘washing of clothes’, esp. as one of the regular requirements of a person or household.
‘Meat, drink, washing, and lodging’: a proverbial summary expression for the necessaries of life; in rustic use often fig. = ‘all that one needs’.
1480Cov. Leet Bk. 459 As to þat þat is seid þat the people of þis Citie hurten þe fisshe in Swanneswell pole be þeire weysshyng there þe people vnderstanden þat þe place of the seid weysshyng ys þe soyle of þe hospitall of sent John Baptiste. 1543Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.) II. 274 To the sayd ij prest [sic] for brede wyne and washyng for the yere v s. 1610Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 187 A quarters washinge, to Roger Isherwood, vjd. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 8 A Dollor for chamber and washing. 1637in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 88 It costs mee two and twenty shillings a week for my diet, lodging and washing. 1643Select. Rec. Regality Melrose (S.H.S.) I. 100 [He is to maintain him] in meatt, drink, bed and board and clothes washing. 1725Ramsay Gent. Sheph. i. ii, We'll end our washing while the morning's cool. 1745E. Montagu Corr. (1906) I. 225 He is to have livery, and frock every year, and six pounds wages the first year, the second seven. He is to put out his washing. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 357 They usually give ten shillings by the week, with meat, drink, washing, and lodging, to stout men. 1797Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxxvi, She..was not without hopes of finding out, before they parted, how much her washing cost per week. c1800Whole Life & D. Long Meg of Westm. ii. 4 She had not been bred unto her needle, but to hard labour, such as washing, brewing and baking. 1832Athenæum 9 June 370/1 To whom bargains and bargain-making are the true meat, drink, washing, and lodging of life. 1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. vi, He shall share and share with my own young folks; and Mrs. Morton will take care of his washing and morals. 1856Putnam's Monthly Mag. Oct. 390/2 Only to think, too, of a hundred and fifty dollars, {pstlg}30 a month—and board, lodging and washing, all free.
† f. at (the) washing = ‘at the wash’ (see wash n. 2). Obs.
1633B. Jonson Tale of Tub ii. ii. 136 Clay... I never zaw you avore. Hil. You did not? where were your eyes then? out at washing? 1638Bp. R. Montagu Art. Enq. Norwich A 4, Have you two faire large Surplices for your Minister to officiate Divine Service in, that the one may be for change, when the other is at washing? 1755J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 279 The stock of shirts being large, almost every man having one at the washing, and the other on.
g. In chemical and mining operations (see wash v. 4, 11).
1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 66 Upon this Iland was found good store of the Ore, which in the washing helde gold to our thinking plainly to be seene. a1650E. Norgate Miniatura (1919) 17 And soe your colour will appeare by reason of soe many washings cleane and faire. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 144 These washings..tended to change sirup of violets to a pale green. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. Gloss. s.v. Jigging, Jigging, is a method of dressing the smaller Copper and Lead Ores by a peculiar motion of a wire sieve in a kieve or vat of water,..In the Lead Mines..they also term this operation,..‘Washing’. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 813 The most simple and economical washings are those that certain iron ores..are subjected to. 1853S. Hughes Gas-works 135 It is also thought..that too much washing has the effect of diminishing the illuminating power of the gas. 1855Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 252 In Siberia there are but few localities where the gold washings are largely carried on. 1886Daily News 17 July 5/8 Special illustrations of diamond washing, cutting, and polishing were given.
h. With advs. away, off, out, up (often hyphened): see quots. and senses of wash v.
1612Sir D. Carleton in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 587 For y⊇ washing away of wch aspersion the Duke maketh profession [etc.]. 1858Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life II. viii. 157 The necessary sum of meals and the consequent ‘washing up’. 1875Wood & Lapham Waiting for Mail 106 Owing to the want of water for washing-up their funds were low. 1880D. C. Davies Metallif. Min. 425 Washing off (Washing up, Am. & Aus.), the periodical final cleaning out of all the gutters and appliances used in alluvial and rock gold mining. 1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., Washing up, the operation of washing up rollers or ink slabs. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right xviii. 177 The washings up were frequent and flourishing. 1890Sir W. Stokes in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 May 999/2 Washing-out or irrigation of the stomach is a desirable antiseptic precaution. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 330 These waters can be taken in large quantities, and thus exercise a washing-out effect. 1899W. De Morgan in Mackail W. Morris II. 17 A story which kept us all quiet and well-behaved till washing-up time.
2. Painting. The action of laying on a thin coat of colour. Also washing in. Also attrib. in washing colour, washing manner.
a1650E. Norgate Miniatura (1919) 59 To worke in the apparrell and foldings in a washing manner without a ground. 1758[Dossie] Handmaid to Arts 172 Gamboge, Indian ink, sap-green, [etc.]..as they really dissolve and become transparent in water are true washing colours. 1811Self Instructor 522 Technical terms in painting..washing-in. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 111 Employed in the first washings by house painters, and by them termed a first coat. 1856Kane Arctic Expl. II. iii. 47 It emerged from buried shadow, through all the stages of distinctness of an India-ink washing. 1877S. Redgrave Descr. Catal. Water-Col. Paintings 17 The papers..were not sufficiently sized to bear the repeated washings of the artist.
3. Sweating of coin by means of acids.
14..Hoccleve Min. Poems xxi. 116 If it be golde and hole that men hym profre..take it yf him lyst..for wasshinge or clyppynge hold hym content. a1513Fabyan Chron. vii. (1533) 177 b, The coyne of golde at those dayes was greatly mynysshed wyth clyppyng & wasshyng. 1543tr. Act 3 Hen. V, Stat. ii. c. 6 Great doubte..hath ben whether that clyppynge, wasshynge, and fylynge of the money of the land ought to be iudged treason or not.
4. a. Surging, overflowing (of waves); the action of moving water in carrying off loose matter.
1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 279 Hercules and exione were all wette of the wasshing and springyng of the wawes. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. i. 61 Would thou mightst lye drowning the washing of ten Tides. a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1707) 125 Upon any violent Rain, the whole City [of Damascus] becomes, by the washing of the Houses, as it were a Quagmire. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 248 The Washing of the Sea having spoil'd all their Powder. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 41 Mount Morello..is quite wild and naked; occasioned, as I suppose, by the washing of the Rains. 1778T. Hutchins Descr. Virginia etc. 37 Fort Chartres..was abandoned in the year 1772, as it was rendered untenable by the constant washings of the River Missisippi in high floods. 1867Morris Jason i. 398 And in their dreamless rest the wind in vain Howled round about, with washing of the rain. 1868― Earthly Par. i. 257 Hearkening the washing of the watery way. 1888Goode Amer. Fishes 402 The rapid, vigorous, spasmodic movements which accompany this operation produce a splashing in the water which can be plainly heard from the shore, and which the fishermen characterize as ‘washing’.
b. with adv.
1873Tristram Moab vii. 124 Unsound ground, rendered more treacherous than usual by the washing in of the burrows of the mole-rat. 1886J. A. Brown in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. May 200 They [the furrow-gravels] could not have been formed by the washing-in of gravel by running springs.
5. a. Printers' slang. (See quots. and wash v. 20 a.)
1825Hansard Typogr. 308 Washing is had recourse to upon two occasions,—either for rousing a sense of shame in a fellow-workman who had been idling when he might have been at work; or to congratulate an apprentice upon the hour having arrived that brings his emancipation from the shackles of his subordinate station. 1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., Washing, an old-fashioned term for ‘jerrying’, or making a noise on an apprentice coming out of his time.
b. Stockbroking. (In sense 20 b of the vb.)
1849Hunt's Merchant's Mag. XXI. 118 ‘Washing’ will hardly go down at the board. 1870J. K. Medbery Men & Mysteries Wall St. 138 Washing is where one broker arranges with another to buy a certain stock when he offers it for sale. The bargain is fictitious. 1894S. Leavitt Our Money Wars 287 In 1887..by the process known as ‘Washing’,—that is, by hiring one set of brokers to buy and another set of brokers to sell,—the price of shares was forced to fifteen times their value.
II. Concrete senses.
6. a. pl. (formerly also sing.). The liquid that has been used to wash something; matter removed when something is washed. Also washing-out.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8816 Þo þat were seke..Wasche þe stones, did hit in baþes;..Wasched þem of þe selue waschinges, & warysched wel of al þer pyne. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxiv. (Alexis) 323 Of þe weschel þe weschyng ful oft one his hed wald fling. c1480Henryson Two Mice 249 My dische weschingis is worth ȝour haill expence. 1577Harrison England iii. i. 96/2 in Holinshed, [Meade] is nothing else but the washing of the combes, when the hony is wrong out. 1598Epulario B ij b, Wash the flesh well with good white wine mingled with as much water, and straine the washing, and seeth the flesh therin. 1637J. Taylor (Water P.) Drinke & Welcome A 4, Small Beere in England, such as is said to be made of the washings of the Brewers legges and aprons. 1775A. Burnaby Trav. N. Amer. 34 Two curious hot springs, one tasting like alum, the other like the washings of a gun. 1805[S. Weston] Werneria 12 Swine-stone, when rubbed against a hard body, has a fetid odour like Harrowgate water, or rotten eggs, or the washing out of a gun. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxiv, The leech gave him a draught of medicated wine, mixed with water. He rejected it, under the dishonourable epithet of ‘kennel-washings.’ 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1324 The must is afterwards again pressed, and about one hogs⁓head of what is termed washings is obtained from the same quantity that had previously afforded about three hogsheads of cider. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 146 It [hogs' wash] is composed of..the washings of cooking utensils. 1890Retrospect Med. CII. 397 The peculiar reddish, watery discharge, ‘like the washings of raw meat,’ as a German writer has described it.
b. Matter carried away by rain or running water; alluvial soil deposited by a stream.
1707Mortimer Husb. 225 [Breeding-ponds] A fat Soil with a white fat Water, as the washings of Hills, Commons, Streets, Sinks, &c, is the best to fatten all sorts of Fish. 1739C. Labelye Westm. Bridge 5 A Shoal..made up of Sand and of the Washing or Silting of the River. 1816Brackenridge Jrnl. 181 This limestone constitutes at least one half in the washings which are carried to the Missouri. 1834Brit. Husb. I. 276 Some farmers, indeed, think these washings from the farmyards, though of a brown colour, are yet, in most instances, so diluted with rain, as not to be worth the expense of carriage. 1867J. Hatton Tallants i, Their rivers are black with coal washings.
c. Metal obtained by washing ore or soil.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xii. 244 There slippes away also some small portion of silver and quicke-silver with the earth and drosse, which they call washings. 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 614 The produce of the mines..may be taken, inclusive of the washings, at about 5,000 tons a year.
d. Places containing soil from which gold or diamonds are obtained by washing.
1865Livingstone Zambesi ii. 52 In former times, when traders went with hundreds of slaves to the washings. 1899Edin. Rev. Apr. 317 In Griqualand West diamonds occur in ‘washings’, as well as in mines.
†7. A medical ‘wash’ or lotion. Obs.
1541Copland Guydon's Form. Y ij b, The chauffynges..of the gummes are appeased..wt this wasshing made of [etc.]. 1563T. Gale Antidot. ii. 23 The patyente..must vse good lotions, or washynges for hys mouth vntyll it be hole.
8. a. Clothes newly washed or set apart to be washed. Phr. to come out in the washing: = to come out in the wash s.v. wash n. 2 d; to take in one another's washing: to help one another by buying one another's goods or services, esp. where no new wealth accrues overall; to render mutual services, to be mutually dependent.
1854Surtees Handley Cr. xxxviii. (1901) II. 8 Family washings were whisked away [by the wind], or torn to tatters on the drying lines. 1876Trollope Prime Minister IV. xii. 183 The effects which causes will produce,..the manner in which this or that proposition will come out in the washing, do not strike even Cabinet Ministers at a glance. 1889Barrie Window in Thrums xxi, She got her death..one day of sudden rain, when she had run out to bring in her washing. 1889G. B. Shaw How to become Mus. Critic (1960) 147 The inhabitants either live in villas on independent incomes or else by taking in one another's washing and selling confectionery, scrap books, and photographs. 1901C.T.C. Gaz. Oct. 390 Perambulators used by poor people to carry home washing in the evening. 1905J. Mackenzie Michael Bruce iii. 34 The box was returned regularly with his washing, so that during the session a constant supply from home was furnished. 1913R. Brooke Let. 1 Sept. (1968) 501 Most of happiness is because one's friends are happy: so that spiritually—whatever the damned Economists may say—we do live by taking in each other's washing. 1937M. Borden Black Virgin iii. 63 Quite half the women she knew were [working] in shops of one sort or another. The only drawback to that being..that they took in each other's washing... Mona and Peg bought Cimmie's clothes. Cimmie bought her hats from Mona, her nighties from Peg. 1959J. L. Austin Sense & Sensibilia (1962) i. 4 These two terms, ‘sense-data’ and ‘material things’, live by taking in each other's washing. 1967G. Sims Last Best Friend xviii. 169, I expect you know what dealers are like for selling among themselves, it's rather like taking in each other's washing.
b. washing-up, table utensils awaiting washing up.
1972J. McClure Caterpillar Cop xiii. 211 Lisbet had eaten and stacked the washing up ready for the girl. 1977P. Hill Fanatics 6 He made his bed but left the washing-up in the sink.
III. 9. a. In combinations (often synonymous with parallel formations in wash-), as washing-basin, washing-blue, washing-brush, † washing-kit (kit n.1 1), washing-room, washing-soap, washing-soda, † washing-towel, washing-trough, washing-tub; † washing-ball = wash-ball; washing basket, a basket for holding articles newly washed or waiting to be washed; washing bat Hist. (see quot. 1898); † washing-beetle, a wooden bat used to beat or pound clothes in the process of washing; washing-bill, a statement of laundry-charges; washing-block, -board, a wooden block or board on which clothes are beaten while being washed; washing-book, a book in which a person's laundry-charges are entered; washing-bottle = wash-bottle a, b; washing-bowl, † (a) a wash-hand basin; (b) a pan or tub for washing clothes, etc. (obs. exc. local); cf. wash-bowl; washing-crystals, crystallized soda used for washing clothes, etc.; washing-day, the day on which the dirty clothes of a household are washed; washing-engine, a machine for washing rags, etc., esp. in paper-making; washing-green, a piece of common grass-land on which clothes are spread or hung out to dry after washing; washing-house = wash-house; washing-leather = wash-leather; washing-line = clothes-line s.v. clothes n. pl. 4; washing-machine, a machine for washing clothes, cloth, etc.; washing-mill, † (a) a machine used for recovering particles of gold or silver from refuse matter; (b) a machine for washing cloth in the process of bleaching; washing-place, (a) a place where washing is done; a lavatory; a laundry; (b) a place where gold is washed out from sand or earth; washing powder, a cleansing agent in powder form for adding to the water used for washing household linen; washing-rod, a rod used to wash out a gun; washing-stand = washstand 1; † washing-stock (see quot. 1879); washing-stone, † (a) a kitchen-sink; (b) a stone on which clothes are beaten while being washed; washing-stool, a stool used when washing; washing-stuff, a miners' name for auriferous earth; † washing-temple, used to tr. L. delubrum temple, shrine, as if f. deluere to wash thoroughly; † washing-vessel, a laver; washing-water, water for washing the hands, a chemical substance, etc. (cf. wash-water); washing-week, a week devoted to washing the dirty clothes of a household; also fig.; † washing-well, fig. a fount of spiritual cleansing; † washing-woman = washerwoman.
1538Elyot Dict. s.v. Magmata, Pomaundres and *washing balles. 1597Deloney Gentle Craft i. x. Wks. (1912) 114 Then shalt thou scoure thy pitchy fingers in a bason of hot water, with an ordinary washing Ball. 1612Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 288 Ballis called weshing ballis the dozen, xii s.
1538Elyot Addit., Labrum, a *wasshynge basyn. 1558Bury Wills (Camden) 150 One wasshinge basone of pewter. 1878E. J. Trelawny Rec. Shelley etc. I. 161, I went to make my toilet, the sea my washing-basin—there was no other.
1947M. Morris in ‘B. James’ Austral. Short Stories (1963) 362 She went down to the lines, walking heavily with her *washing-basket full. 1967Listener 17 Aug. 204/3, I..used to fill a big washing-basket with books and bring it downstairs as often as I wanted to.
1898Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Bat, The *washing bat was used to beat the dirty clothes after they had been ‘put to soak’. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 149/2 A woman hitting a man with a washing bat is carved on an oak misericord of 1401, in Carlisle Cathedral... It shows that early washing bats were more shovel-shaped, with wider, shorter blades. 1983Daily Tel. 16 Nov. 15/3 These finely decorated washing bats..were once used to beat the washing.
c1440Promp. Parv. 517/2 *Waschynge betyl, or batyldore, feritorium. c1566Merie Tales of Skelton in S.'s Wks. (1843) I. p. lxiii, Skelton..sayd to the wyfe, Geue me a washyng betle. a1625Fletcher Woman's Prize ii. v, Have I liv'd thus long to be knockt o'th head, With halfe a washing beetle?
1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. xxii, She held a *washing-bill in her hand. 1905H. G. Wells Kipps ii. v. §3 After that the washing-bill of Kipps quadrupled.
1590in Archæologia XL. 333 In the Boulting Howse,..a *washing block. 1676Durfey Mad. Fickle i. i. (1677) 7 Like a Taylor [vaulting] ore' a Washing-block. 1829Sporting Mag. XXIV. 112 He looked like a frog on a washing-block.
1881A. Watt Sci. Industr. I. 5 Indigo..mixed with starch..forms the ‘*washing blue’ of the laundry.
1810T. Williamson E. Ind. Vade Mecum I. 247 The *washing-board, its prop, the drying lines [etc.].
1868W. Collins Moonstone I. xiii. 216 Before we begin, I should like..to have the *washing-book... I want to be able to account next for all the linen in the house, and for all the linen sent to the wash. 1905H. G. Wells Kipps i. vi. §1 He..produced a washing-book and two pencils.
1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 169 The vapours which are evolved should be transmitted through a *washing bottle containing water. c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sci. I. 406/1 Wash the precipitate by means of the washing-bottle.
14..Rules & Const. Nuns Syon lvi. in Aungier Syon (1840) 392 *Waschyng bolles and sope. 1530Palsgr. 287/1 Wasshyng boll, jatte. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 54 Like a basket of Buck-cloathes, when they are taken from the washing-Bole. 1884McLaren Spinning 33 Petrie's washing-bowl [for washing wool].
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 304/1 Penicillus rectorius,..a *washing or white liming brush.
1626Middleton Anything for Quiet Life v. ii, The day after *washing-day; once a week I see't at home. 1754in J. Cox Narr. Thief-takers (1756) 103 It being Washing-day at her Father's, she attended there. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xiv, His scrambling home, from week's-end to week's-end, is like one great washing-day—only nothing's washed!
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 366 This stream of water is kept running through the rags in the *washing-engine. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. ii. 49 This enormous piece passes into a washing-engine, to cleanse it from the ‘dressing’ or mucilage which the weaver had introduced into his warp.
1836Prichard Phys. Hist. Mankind (ed. 3) I. 40 He was about to make a *washing-green in the immediate neighbourhood. 1890D. Davidson Mem. Long Life i. 27 One of the posts in the washing green.
14..Rules & Const. Nuns Syon xiv. in Aungier Syon (1840) 296 Also silence..is to be kepte..in the *waschyng howse in tyme of waschynge. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 12 b, My maides chamber neere the Kitchin, and the wasshing house. 1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4101/3 A Brew-house, Dairy, Washing-house. 1822Galt Provost xxxviii, The mistress had her big summer washing at the public washing-house on the Green.
1608in Cochran-Patrick Early Rec. Mining Scot. (1878) 148 Money debursit vpoun the dressing of the ore. For ane wesching tub and ane *wesching kitt, xviijs.
1799Underwood Dis. Childhood (ed. 4) II. 103 The heels only may be covered by a piece of *washing-leather.
1939L. MacNeice Autumn Jrnl. viii. 33 But Life was comfortable, life was fine With two in a bed and patchwork cushions And checks and tassels on the *washing-line. 1961J. Stroud Touch & Go iv. 45 Any idea where I can get a washing-line post? 1978J. Thomson Question of Identity xii. 115 Betty Lovell was pegging out sheets on a washing-line.
c1754in Hermathena (1965) ci. 40 Things to be done... Morning Caps made..Curtains Chairs Carpets for Dublin..*Washing Machine. a1780Rake's Progress (1977) 9 Enter Porter with a Washing Machine, puts it down—Enter Beat'em, pursued by Washerwomen, who beat him & break his washing machine. 1780Brit. Patent 1269 1 Washing machine. Rogerson's specification... My invention of an entire new machine called a laundry, for the purpose of washing and pressing all sorts of household linen. 1799Hull Advertiser 15 June 2/4 A washing machine. 1875Encycl. Brit. III. 816/2 (Bleaching) From the washing-machine the chain of cloth is passed through a pair of squeezers. 1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 139/2 Washing Machines... The Electric Washers are warranted to be well made. 1944A. Huxley Let. 10 Apr. (1969) 503 Fully furnished and equipped down to an electric washing machine. 1975Sunday Times 16 Nov. 44/3, I also kept rushing to the other side of the room trying to empty rubbish into the washing machine.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Washings, To get out the finer Parts, gone off with the Earth, they use Quicksilver, and a *Washing Mill. 1756F. Home Exper. Bleaching 92 Were this to happen on the surface of the cloth, the oil would remain; nor would the washing-mill afterwards be able to carry it off. 1875Encycl. Brit. III. 820/2 (Bleaching) Washed at washing-mill or stocks.
1538London in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 223 Ther towne hall..stondith upon the ryver, wher ys the commyn *wassching place of the most partt of the towne, and in the cession dayes..ther ys such betyng with batildores as oon man can nott here another. 1659Baxter Key for Catholicks i. xxxv. 252 The rest they no more regard then a meeting of women in a workhouse or a washing place. 1748Anson's Voy. I. v. 50 Negroes who have accidentally fallen upon rich washing places. 1851–3C. Tomlinson's Cycl. Useful Arts (1866) I. 3/2 The washing-place [in an abattoir] is fitted up with coppers for boiling water.
1869J. G. Fuller Uncle John's Flower-Gatherers 182 The old Prof..calls salt ‘chloride of Sodium’ and sets me thinking of *washing powders. 1895[see blueing, bluing vbl. n. 2]. 1969I. & P. Opie Children's Games ii. 104 The mother..asks the shopkeeper for household goods, such as..some washing-powder. 1977A. Wilson Strange Ride of R. Kipling v. 244 Those who find to their surprise that washing powders wash whiter.
1850R. G. Cumming S. Africa I. xvi. 365, I accordingly stowed some ammunition and a *washing-rod in my old game-bag.
1838F. A. Kemble Let. in Rec. Later Life (1882) I. 175 One towel was considered all that was requisite not even for each individual, but for each *washing-room. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. v, The cherub..was accordingly conducted to a little washing-room, where Bella soaped his face.
1720J. Steuart Letter-Bk. (1915) 121 Six barells *washing soap. 1947Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 5 Nov. 3/3 (heading) No washing soap this weekend.
1865Enquire Within §1930 *Washing Soda as a Freezing Mixture.
1789J. Woodforde Diary 13 Nov. (1927) III. 151 Bought this day..one new Mohogany *Washing-Stand. 1799Times 1 June 4/1 Dressing and washing stands. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life x. ci, Rising, in a bitter frost, and going up to the washing-stand. 1889Gretton Memory's Harkback 187 If you had a chest of drawers, the top of it was turned to account as the washing stand.
1417–18Acc. Obedientiars Abingdon Abbey (Camden) 88 Et in vno *wasshyngstok de nouo facto ij s. iiij d. 1700–1R. Gough Hist. Myddle (1875) 31 The next morning Hopkin was found dead in Oatley Parke, haveinge beene knocked on the head with the foote of a washing stocke which stood at Ellesmeare meare. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Washing-stock, a bench on which clothes were laid and beaten with a kind of bat.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 193/1 Vrnarium,..the sinke or *washing stone in a kitchen, where the Scullion makes cleane the dishes. 1813J. Forsyth Excurs. Italy 288, I observed a group of these nymphs standing up to their knees in a fountain at washing-stones.
1868Dickens in All Year Round 19 Dec. 62/2, I found a man, his wife, and four children, sitting at a *washing stool by way of table, at their dinner.
1853J. Sherer Gold-Finder Australia 177 The gold..lies upon a sort of pipe-clay, called by the diggers ‘*washing stuff’, which is from two inches to four feet thick.
1382Wyclif Isa. lxv. 4 In *wasshing temples of mawmetis [Vulg. in delubris idolorum]. ― Jer. xliii. 12 In the washing templis of the godus of Egipt.
1404Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 398, 3 *wessyng towell. c1460Invent. Sir J. Fastolfe in Archæologia XXI. 275 Item, ij Wasschyng Tewellys of warke, eche of x yerds.
1557in Pettus Fodinæ Reg. (1670) 95 Everie man that hath a *Washing Trough of his own by the custom of the Mine. 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §431 Boiler, washing-trough, and sink.
1560Burgh Rec. Stirling (1887) I. 72 Ane *wesching tub. 1677A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. iii. (1704) 67 He that makes a curious vessel of gold, doth not intend it for a washing-tub. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes xv, A hoopless washing-tub.
1388Wyclif 1 Kings vii. 23 Also he made a ȝotun see, [gloss] that is, a *waisching vessel for preestis. Ibid. 31 The mouth of the waischyng vessel [1382 watir vessel; Vulg. os luteris]. c1440Promp. Parv. 517/2 Waschynge vessel, luter.
1827Faraday Chem. Manip. ix. (1842) 245 When a precipitate is soft and close in consistency, it is often of use to retain the *washing water on it, so as to penetrate and remove the soluble matter. 1876Tyndall Float. Matter Air (1881) 70 A portion of this washing-water reaching the infusion was clearly the origin of the life observed.
a1631Donne Serm. lxxxviii. (1649) II. 64 Doe not thinke to put off all to the *washing weeke; all thy sinnes, all thy repentance, to Easter, and the Sacrament then. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. iv, Next week is our washing-week.
c1425Cast. Persev. 3146 in Macro Plays 170 Whanne man crieth mercy, & wyl not ses, Mercy schal be his *waschynge well.
1782R. Cumberland Anecd. Emin. Painters II. 170 Crowds of *washing-women..and rows of linen. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) V. 325 The ganglion..is peculiarly common to the wrists of washing-women.
b. The phr. washing up (see sense 1 h) in Comb., as washing-up bowl, washing machine, washing water; washing-up cloth, a square of loose-weave fabric for washing dishes, etc.; washing-up liquid, liquid detergent for adding to washing-up water.
1938N. Streatfeild Circus is Coming vii. 98 They hurried back to the *washing-up bowl. Santa..put a cup in the water. 1983D. Clark Vicious Circle i. 19 Marian had emptied the washing up bowl and mopped down the draining board.
1973L. Cooper Tea on Sunday xvi. 136, I wouldn't myself trust poor Charlot to sell a row of *washing-up cloths. 1975G. Seymour Harry's Game iii. 49 The publican pushed the washing-up cloth..across the wooden bar.
1971C. Bonington Annapurna South Face 254 *Washing-up liquid. 1980P. Hill Savages vii. 135 Found your true occupation then?.. Washin' up... What made you go mad with the washin' up liquid?
1930Daily Tel. 1 Dec. 23/7 (Advt.), Electric *washing-up machines..will be sold by auction. 1972C. Drummond Death at Bar i. 7 He has three helpers in the kitchen, one working the washing-up machine.
1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm x. 137 Niver put my liddle pretty [mop] in that gurt old greasy *washin'-up water. 1981J. Wainwright All on Summer's Day 161 It hasn't a head on it [sc. beer]... An' it tastes like washing-up water.
▪ II. ˈwashing, ppl. a.
[f. wash v. + -ing2.]
1. That washes, in various senses of the verb:
a. Surging, overflowing; streaming with water; dipping in the waves.
1560Googe tr. Palingenius' Zodiac ii. (1561) B iij, The washyng winter now is fledde, the hoary snowes be gon. 1653J. Taylor (Water P.) Cert. Trav. 22, I was..three and thirty dirty Kentish miles, With washing dashing ways and rain wel sous'd. 1697Dryden æneis ix. 80 The washing Tyde Secures from all approach this weaker side. 1867Morris Jason ii. 63 For he was dizzy with the washing stream. 1882Daily Tel. 12 Sept. 2/2 The washing heights of foam which swell up as high as the rail of the bulwarks. 1913Masefield The River iii. in Engl. Rev. Dec. 1 Till with a stripping crash the tree goes down, Its washing branches founder and are gone.
b. Of a garment, a textile fabric: That will ‘wash’ or admit of being washed without injury to colour or texture; washable.
a1733Ld. Binning in Maidment New Bk. Old Ballads (1844) 62, I fain wad wear a camblet skirt,..But camblet's an untasty thing, And it would wear out soon. If I should make a washing thing, It soon would flimsy be. 1750F. Coventry Pompey the Little ii. xii, A white washing Gown. 1849Lever Con Cregan xiv, The satin sinner was pardonable, where the ‘washing silk’ would have been found guilty without a ‘recommendation’. 1868‘Holme Lee’ B. Godfrey v, The..material of her dresses was..washing prints. 1901Lady's Realm X. 648/2 Some lovely silk nightgowns are being made with double cape collars of washing-chiffon.
†2. Of a blow: = swashing ppl. a. 2. Obs.
1567Golding Ovid's Met. v. 252 Astyages..Did with a long sharpe arming sworde a washing blow him giue. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 22 You see my quarter staffe... A washing blow of this is as good as a Laundresse, it will wash for the names sake: it can wipe a fellow ouer the thumbs. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. i. 70 (Qo. 1599) Gregorie, remember thy washing blowe [and so Fo. 1]. 1621Fletcher Wild-Goose Chase v. iv, 'Tis a lustie wench: now could I spend my forty-pence..to have but one fling at her, To give her but a washing blow. 1625B. Jonson Staple of N. v. v, I doe confesse a washing blow.
3. washing bear, washing racoon = wash-bear.
1891Century Dict., Washing-bear, the wash-bear or racoon, Procyon lotor. 1896tr. Boas Zool. 516 The Washing Racoon (Procyon). |