?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 246 As hit is ifullocht þe weschunge wið uten. bitachneð þe weschunge of saule wið innen.

c1305 Land Cokaygne 48 Watir seruiþ þer to no þing Bot to siȝt and to waiissing.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 178 Ase þet line cloþ þet is y-huyted be ofte wessinge.

a1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 53 Wasche wele þat legge..with hote watre... And so after þe waschyng lat it lye by a naturel day.

?1466 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 92 For wosshyng of yowyr shertys and M. Wyllyams.

1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. ii.vj If a table be foule and fylthy..fyrst we rase it, after whan it is rased we wasshe it, and last after the wasshynge we wype and make it clene.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiii^v Beware that y^u put nat to many shepe in a penne at one time nother at the wasshyng, nor at the shering.

1587 D. Fenner Song of Songs vi. 3 Thy teeth are like a flocke of sheepe which comme vp from washing.

1603 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. i. 31 For the wysching of my chlos, xii d.

c1650 H. Binning Serm. in 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.

1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. 77 Stains of a deep dye will not out of the cloath, with such ordinary washings, as will fetch out lighter spots.

1765 Museum Rusticum 4 234 Both these gentlemen depend on the clean washing of the seed, and the trials of both met with the wished-for success.

1829 J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Naturalist 149 It taints the fingers, which have touched it, with its peculiar odour, so that one washing does not remove it.

1857 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. III. 77 The tubers are first freed from adhering earth by a thorough washing.

1870 Cassell's Househ. Guide II. 50/2 The white things will require two washings.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 611 Every other evening a washing with naphthol and sulphur soap may be given in a bath.

1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. 1025/2 Such a one as would not giue his head for the polling nor his beard for the washing.

1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. L4 But the time was when he would not haue giuen his head for the washing.

1615 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Cupids Revenge iv. sig. I2 And so am I [sc. resolued], and 40. more good fellowes That wil not giue their heads for the washing, I take it.

a1616 J. Fletcher 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 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. iii. 182 For my part, it shall ne'er be sed, I for the washing gave my head.

1896 A. Conan Doyle Rodney Stone vii It was his custom to go through a whole series of washings and changings after even the shortest journey.

1911 A. Plummer Churches in Brit. before A.D. 1000 I. 121 Abstention from washing was a common form of asceticism.

c1375 Lay-Folks Mass-bk. (MS. B.) 263 Til after wasshing þo preste wil loute þo auter.

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 468 That the bodili waisching with water schulde clense the soule fro moral vnclennessis.

a1557 J. Cheke tr. Gospel St. Matthew (1843) xxi. 25 Joanns wasching from whens was it from heaven, or from men.

1606 Arraignmt. & Exec. Traytors D 1 b Their pilgrimages to Idols, their shauings and their washings.

1644 J. Milton tr. M. Bucer Ivdgem. conc. Divorce 2 Wee are not to use circumcision, sacrifice, and those bodily washings prescrib'd to the Jews.

c1698 H. Maundrell Let. in Journey to Jerusalem (1703) sig. T^v Addressing themselves to their Devotions, with the most solemn and critical Washings.

1772 J. Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 340 Washing..accompanied many of the Jewish rites.

1846 S. 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.

1480 Cov. 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.

?1544 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Star Chamber (1911) II. 274 To the sayd ij prest [sic] for brede wyne and washyng for the yere v s.

1610 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 187 A quarters washinge, to Roger Isherwood, vj^d.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 8 A Dollor for chamber and washing.

1637 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) I. 88 It costs mee two and twenty shillings a week for my diet, lodging and washing.

1643 Select. Rec. Regality Melrose (S.H.S.) I. 100 [He is to maintain him] in meatt, drink, bed and board and clothes washing.

1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd i. ii We'll end our washing while the morning's cool.

1745 E. Montagu Let. in E. J. Climenson Elizabeth Montagu (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.

1765 Museum Rusticum 4 357 They usually give ten shillings by the week, with meat, drink, washing, and lodging, to stout men.

c1800 Whole 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.

1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. xiv. 264 She..was not without hopes of finding out, before they parted, how much her washing cost per week. View more context for this quotation

1832 Athenæum 9 June 370/1 To whom bargains and bargain-making are the true meat, drink, washing, and lodging of life.

1841 E. Bulwer-Lytton Night & Morning i. vi He shall share and share with my own young folks; and Mrs. Morton will take care of his washing and morals.

1856 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Oct. 390/2 Only to think, too, of a hundred and fifty dollars, £30 a month—and board, lodging and washing, all free.

a1637 B. Jonson Tale of Tub ii. ii. 136 in Wks. (1640) III Clay... I never zaw you avore. Hil. You did not? where were your eyes then? out at washing ? View more context for this quotation

1638 R. Montagu Articles Diocese of Norwich sig. A4 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?

1755 J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 279 The stock of shirts being large, almost every man having one at the washing, and the other on.

1578 G. Best True Disc. Passage to Cathaya ii. 18 Upon this Ilande was found good store of the Ore, which in the washing helde golde plainly to be seene.

a1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (Tanner 326) (1919) 17 And soe your colour will appeare by reason of soe many washings cleane and faire.

1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 144 These washings..tended to change sirup of violets to a pale green.

1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis Gloss. at 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’.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 813 The most simple and economical washings are those that certain iron ores..are subjected to.

1853 S. Hughes Gas-works 135 It is also thought..that too much washing has the effect of diminishing the illuminating power of the gas.

1855 D. T. Ansted in Orr's Circle Sci.: Inorg. Nature 252 In Siberia there are but few localities where the gold washings are largely carried on.

1886 Daily News 17 July 5/8 Special illustrations of diamond washing, cutting, and polishing were given.

1612 Sir D. Carleton in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. i. 587 For y^e washing away of w^ch aspersion the Duke maketh profession [etc.].

1858 ‘G. Eliot’ Scenes Clerical Life II. viii. 157 The necessary sum of meals and the consequent ‘washing up’.

1875 S. Wood & H. Lapham Waiting for Mail 106 Owing to the want of water for washing-up their funds were low.

1880 D. C. Davies Treat. Metallif. Minerals & Mining 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.

1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 154 Washing up, the operation of washing up rollers or ink slabs.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xviii. 123 The washings up were frequent and flourishing.

1890 Sir W. Stokes in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 May 999/2 Washing-out or irrigation of the stomach is a desirable antiseptic precaution.

1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 330 These waters can be taken in large quantities, and thus exercise a washing-out effect.

1899 W. De Morgan in J. W. Mackail Life W. Morris II. 17 A story which kept us all quiet and well-behaved till washing-up time.

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 139 Hercules and exione were all wette of the wasshing and springyng of the wawes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. i. 55 Would thou mightst lye drowning the washing of ten Tides. View more context for this quotation

a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 123 Upon any violent Rain, the whole City [of Damascus] becomes, by the washing of the Houses, as it were a Quagmire.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 289 The Washing of the Sea having spoil'd all their Powder.

1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 41 Mount Morello..is quite wild and naked; occasioned, as I suppose, by the washing of the Rains.

1778 T. Hutchins Topogr. Descr. Virginia 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.

1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason i. 15 And in their dreamless rest the wind in vain Howled round about, with washing of the rain.

1868 W. Morris Earthly Paradise i. 257 Hearkening the washing of the watery way.

1888 G. B. Goode 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’.

1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab vii. 124 Unsound ground, rendered more treacherous than usual by the washing in of the burrows of the mole-rat.

1886 J. 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.

1825 T. C. Hansard Typographia 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.

1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 153 Washing, an old-fashioned term for ‘jerrying’, or making a noise on an apprentice coming out of his time.

1849 Merchants' Mag. 21 118 ‘Washing’ will hardly go down at the board.

1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. 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.

1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 274 How much of this was due to ‘washings’ at Share Boards?

1894 S. 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.

c1330 R. Mannyng 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.

c1480 (a1400) St. Alexis 323 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 450 Of þe weschel þe weschyng ful oft one his hed wald fling.

1570 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Morall Fabillis (Charteris) sig. B.ii My dische weschingis is worth ȝour hail expence.

1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. i. f. 96/2, in R. Holinshed Chron. I [Meade] is nothing else but the washing of the combes, when the hony is wrong out.

1598 tr. G. de Rosselli Epulario 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.

1637 J. Taylor Drinke & Welcome sig. A4 Small Beere in England, such as is said to be made of the washings of the Brewers legges and aprons.

1775 A. Burnaby Trav. Middle Settlements N.-Amer. 34 Two curious hot springs, one tasting like alum, the other like the washings of a gun.

1805 S. Weston Werneria I. 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.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth i, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 15 The leech gave him a draught of medicated wine, mixed with water. He rejected it, under the dishonourable epithet of ‘kennel-washings’.

1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage 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.

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 132/1 It [sc. hogs' wash] is composed of..the washings of cooking utensils.

1890 Retrospect Med. 102 397 The peculiar reddish, watery discharge, ‘like the washings of raw meat,’ as a German writer has described it.

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 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.

1739 C. Labelye Short Acct. Piers Westm.-Bridge 5 A Shoal..made up of Sand and of the Washing or Silting of the River.

1816 H. M. Brackenridge Jrnl. Voy. Missouri 181 This limestone constitutes at least one half in the washings which are carried to the Missouri.

1834 Brit. Husbandry (Libr. Useful Knowl.) 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.

1867 J. Hatton Tallants i Their rivers are black with coal washings.

1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall 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.

1837 J. R. McCulloch Statist. Acct. Brit. Empire II. iii. ii. 14 The produce of the mines..may be taken, inclusive of the washings, at about 4,500 tons a year.

1865 D. Livingstone & C. Livingstone Narr. Exped. Zambesi ii. 52 In former times, when traders went with hundreds of slaves to the washings.

1899 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 317 In Griqualand West diamonds occur in ‘washings’, as well as in mines.

1843 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross II. viii. 214 Family washings were whisked away [by the wind], or torn to tatters on the drying lines.

1876 A. Trollope 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.

1889 J. M. Barrie Window in Thrums xxi. 198 She got her death..one day of sudden rain, when she had run out to bring in her washing.

1889 G. B. Shaw How to become Musical 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.

1901 C.T.C. Gaz. Oct. 390 Perambulators used by poor people to carry home washing in the evening.

1905 J. 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.

1913 R. 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.

1937 M. 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.

1962 J. L. Austin's Sense & Sensibilia i. 4 These two terms, ‘sense-data’ and ‘material things’, live by taking in each other's washing.

1967 G. 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.

1972 J. McClure Caterpillar Cop xiii. 211 Lisbet had eaten and stacked the washing up ready for the girl.

1977 P. Hill Fanatics 6 He made his bed but left the washing-up in the sink.