colour-washcolor-washv.
/ˈkʌləwɒʃ/, U.S. /ˈkələrˌwɔʃ/, /ˈkələrˌwɑʃ/ transitive. To paint (something) with coloured distemper.
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the world > matter > colour > colouring > painting > paint [verb (transitive)]
paintc1275
depaintc1320
englose1430
bepaint1567
superficialize1593
repaint1600
overpaint1611
repassa1806
colour-wash1850
distemper1870
respray1880
to paint out1902
aerosol1979
1850 Hogg's Instructor 5 21/2 The house walls wont do for them without being colour-washed!
1887 Daily News 29 June 5/8 Apartments..colour-washed in several shades of pale grey and chocolate.
1925 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 461 The bridegroom..glazes the windows and colour-washes the walls.
1968 Guardian 20 Aug. 5/2 A party from International Voluntary Service colourwashed some of the camp's concrete walls.
2001 Sun 27 Jan. (TV Mag.) 21/2 I love painting—I colourwashed the blue cupboard in the living room myself.
Derivatives
ˈcolour-washed adj.
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1885 London Society Mar. 301 Its chilly stone, or begrimed wooden, floor, its colour-washed walls, its painted ceiling, and its hideous stove.
1950 F. Stark Traveller's Prelude 236 The colour-washed little tower of Mortola church.
2002 Paint Magic 35 53 Colorwashed, stippled or dragged walls.
ˈcolour-washing n.
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1873 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 13 June 3/5 It stated that Attercliffe and Newhall schools were completed, with the exception of the colour washing, which would be done during the midsummer holidays.
1905 W. H. Hunt Pre-Raphaelitism I. 114 The white-washing and colour-washing still not being completed.
2005 Philadelphia Oct. 139/1 A decorative artisan who specializes in gilding, Venetian plaster, murals, trompe l'oeil and color washing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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