washn.
/wɒʃ/, U.S. /wɔʃ/, /wɑʃ/ I. Act of washing.
1.
a. gen. An act or process of washing or cleansing with water. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > [noun] > an act of washing
wash1663
souse1741
rinse1837
wash-out1877
slush1902
sloosh1919
1663 S. Tuke Adventures of Five Hours i. 2 The Blemish once received, no Wash is good For stains of Honor, but th' Offenders blood.
1666 W. Sancroft Lex Ignea 41 A Baptism in Reserve, a Wash for all our Sins.
1921 N.E.D. at Wash 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 transferred, and as v. transitive and intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > an act of
wash1839
washdown1849
head dip1886
wash-up1887
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash one's body or part of it [verb (transitive)] > wash and tidy
wash and brush-up1941
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash oneself [verb (intransitive)] > and tidy oneself
to freshen up1882
wash and brush-up1959
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby vii. 64 Mind you take care, young man, and get first wash.
1852 C. B. Mansfield Paraguay, Brazil, & Plate (1856) 89 Next morning,..after a wash in a neighbouring rivulet,..we started again.
1872 Gentleman's Mag. June 722 We must have a wash..and eat some breakfast.
1899 E. W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman 31 We must have a wash-and-brush-up before we go,—for I'm as black as your boot.
1910 W. 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 (new ed.) ix. 62 What we really did want was a wash and a brush up, with a good substantial meal to follow.
1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock iii. i. 107 I had to have a wash and brush up.
1941 Vogue June 58/2 Wash-and-brush-up your face.: because creams are rationed and soap is not.
1956 G. Durrell Drunken Forest v. 98 The cockroach ambled about for a bit and then stopped for a quick wash and brush-up.
1959 G. Mitchell Man who grew Tomatoes i. 10 I'll wash and brush up, as they say, and be down in ten minutes.
1978 R. 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.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun]
scouring1464
washing1480
wash1704
handwashing1793
dobeying1929
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > being washed [phrase]
at (the) washinga1637
(to be) at the wash1813
(to be lost, damaged, etc.) in the wash1876
c1050 Glosses on De Consuetudine Monachorum in Anglia XIII. 441 Vestimentorum ablutio, reafa wæsc.]
1704 London Gaz. No. 3981/4 Stolen..Wearing Linen from the Wash.
1813 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (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.
1814 Family Politics iv. i, in J. Galt New Brit. Theatre II. 230 I was going to pull it [a gown] to pieces for the wash.
1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. iii. 30 It returned from the wash.
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist I. viii. 133 Ah, you're a-staring at the pocket-handkerchiefs... We've just looked 'em out ready for the wash.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop ii. xli. 23 This objection, and a great many others, founded upon certain articles of dress being at the wash,..were overcome by Kit.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xi. 85 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.].
1848 E. C. Gaskell Mary Barton I. i. 13 Though she may have done a hard day's wash.
1876 E. Jenkins Blot on 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. concrete. The quantity of clothes or other textile articles washed (or set apart to be washed) on one occasion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > clothes to be or that have been washed
buck1532
wash1789
snow1811
washing1843
wash-linen1901
laundry1916
dry cleaning1930
1789 New London Mag. Apr. 224/1 The apprehension of [several people]..for stealing a whole wash of wet linen.
1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. xxii. 187 In this yard, a wash of sheets and tablecloths tried..to get itself dried on a line or two.
1889 C. E. Cameron Lost Wife I. i. 7 The family wash..flutters gracefully in the breeze.
1898 H. E. Hamblen Gen. Manager's Story xvii. 268 The native women having a custom..of taking in the wash before dark.
1914 M. R. Rinehart K (1915) iii. 35 Where her aunt..was hanging out the week's wash of table linen.
c. plural. Apparently used (after German wäsche) for: Washable articles of apparel, body-linen.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [noun] > washable
washes1827
washable1951
1827 T. Carlyle tr. J. L. Tieck in German Romance II. 139 She took special heed to pack up her clothes and washes with her own hands.
d. In figurative phrase 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 n. 8a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > solve [phrase] > be solved
to come out in the wash1903
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclosing or revealing [phrase] > (of the truth) to be revealed
to come out in the wash1903
1903 R. Kipling Five Nations 196 An' it all went into the laundry, But it never came out in the wash.
1917 P. G. Wodehouse 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 xxi. 351 That scandal has been such a long toime comin' out in the wash that you must have been mistaken.
1943 N. 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.’
1971 J. 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.
1978 J. Dunn in C. Hookway & P. Pettit Action & Interpr. 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.figurative.a1627 J. Fletcher & T. Middleton Nice Valour iii. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Uuu3/1 There is no handsomenesse, But has a wash of Pride and Luxury.a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) I. 224 Th' artificial Wash of Eloquence Is daub'd in vain upon the clearest Sense.1689 J. Collier Moral Ess. conc. 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.
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. Cf. whitewash n. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines of specific form > lotion or bath > [noun]
lotion?a1425
lavatoryc1475
washing?1541
bath1542
lolion1549
lavament1598
lavature1601
irrigation1617
wash1626
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations treating or preventing specific ailments > [noun] > for ulcers > mineral-derived lotion
black wash1805
yellow wash1849
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §757 [Try] whether Children may not haue some Wash, or Some thing to make their Teeth Better, and Stronger?
1672 W. Wycherley Love in Wood iv. ii My eyes are none of the best since I have used the last new wash of mercury-water.
1697 T. Tryon Way to Health (ed. 3) xviii. 409 There are many various things..prescribed by Physicians..as Washes, etc., to preserve the Teeth and Gums.
1732 H. Fielding Mock Doctor iv The doctor, with a sort of wash, wash'd her tongue 'till he set it agoing.
1808 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 19 572 I tried a variety of ointments and washes, but without deriving any material benefit from their use.
1828 Lancet 16 Feb. 717/1 The employment of yellow wash (a solution of oxymuriate of mercury in lime water) was recommended.
1828 Lancet 16 Feb. 732/2 The calomel and lime water, known by the name of the black wash.
1849 J. Pereira Elements Materia Medica (ed. 3) I. 838 Lotio nigra... Black Wash.
1849 J. Pereira Elements Materia Medica (ed. 3) I. 839 Lotio flava... Yellow or Phagedenic Wash.
1850 R. Reece 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.
1871 A. B. Garrod Essentials Materia Medica (new ed.) 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 centuries; now chiefly Historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > [noun] > preparations for the skin or complexion > lotions and liquids
waterOE
maiden milk?a1425
May-dew?a1425
milk of almondsa1425
maidens' milk?c1450
lac Virginis1477
surflingc1555
surfle1593
virgin's milk1600
lotion1606
washa1627
beauty water1675
mercury-water1676
beauty wash1706
Kalydor1824
skin tonic1863
flower-water1886
Limacol1936
moisture lotion1957
toning lotion1960
toner1970
1639 P. Massinger Unnaturall Combat iv. ii. sig. Iv These are perfum'd too, Of the Roman wash.
1649 R. Lovelace Lucasta: Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs 146 No Cabinets with curious Washes, Bladders and perfumed Plashes [are here].
1676 T. Shadwell Virtuoso iii. 55 All manner of Washes, Almond-water, and Mercury-water for the Complexion.
1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 112 Her Cheeks as smooth as Silk; Are polish'd with a wash of Asses Milk.
1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer i. ii. 10 I need..no Hart's-horn for my Head, nor Wash for my Complexion.
1735 A. Pope Of Char. of Women 8 Narcissa's nature, tolerably mild, To make a Wash, would hardly stew a Child.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. vi. 55 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.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. x. 129 I know how to make washes and creams for the ladies' faces.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond I. vi. 123 The box..contained—not papers regarding the conspiracy—but my lady's wigs, washes, and rouge-pots.
1860 All Year Round 31 Mar. 531 Pure soft water is the truest beauty wash.
c. A liquid applied to the hair to alter its colour, to impart smoothness, or to promote growth. Now chiefly Historical, except in hair-wash.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > preparations used on the hair > [noun]
lye1556
lotium1595
lavature1601
wash1670
lavatory1694
hair-oil1810
marrow oil1855
hairdressing1907
haircare1935
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > preparations used on the hair > [noun] > colours
wash1670
permanent dye1815
blondine1888
hair lightener1892
washable distemper1894
reng1901
tint1921
blue rinse1924
rinse1928
permanent tint1960
powder colour1966
toner1966
1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) i. 84 They dry their haire in the Sun after they haue washed it in a certain wash.
1859 Habits Good 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > [noun] > protectant or safener
medication1626
medicating1707
protectant1876
wash1921
safener1933
1921 Discovery May 130/1 The providing of suitable sprays and washes, and other material connected with the checking of plant pests.
1951 Dict. Gardening (Royal Hort. Soc.) IV. 2081/1 Other washes have had to be derived for use against it [sc. the red spider mite].
1984 Which? 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > [noun] > sheep washing or dipping > sheep-wash or -dip
sheep-watera1722
fag water1848
sheep-wash1858
sheep-dip1865
dip1871
wash1933
1933 Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 25 Nov. 15/7 Wash, place and plant for washing sheep.
1965 J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry i. 25 In the older ‘dips’ and also in modern ‘sheep showers’, this is an adjoining draining pen to which sheep go after treatment with the ‘wash’ or ‘dip’.
4. † a. Mural painting in water-colour. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > painting according to medium or technique > [noun] > a mural painting > mural painting in watercolour
waterwork1548
wash1598
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Wash or water colour.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words at 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > art of colouring > [noun] > wash
wash1728
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at 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.
1882 P. G. Hamerton Graphic Arts 84 Line and auxiliary washes are employed together in great variety.
1882 P. G. Hamerton Graphic Arts 86 At Florence there are some drawings by Cambiaso, in pen and wash.
1884 American 8 59 The beauty of the clear, broad wash.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 396 To produce dark clouds and rain with twelve or twenty successive washes.
c. transferred. (Cf. wash v. 10b.)
ΚΠ
1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 92 In the middle of the leaues there riseth vp a yellow welt..shadowed all ouer with a wash of thin blew.
1877 W. Black Green Pastures xliv The valley was a plain of rich vegetation—long water-colour washes of yellow, and russet, and olive-green.
1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey (1886) 30 The intervening field of hills had fallen together into one broad wash of shadow.
1887 C. C. Harrison Bar Harbor Days xiii. 157 The summer sunshine fell like a wash of gold upon the shores of Mount Desert.
1891 G. E. Shelley in P. L. Sclater & G. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > colouring > colouring matter > [noun] > paint > types of
oila1536
primera1650
wash1698
paint oil1727
flat tint1821
flat1823
flatting1823
distemper1837
kalsomine1840
oil filler1846
calcimine1864
tube-colour1881
Ripolin1899
gloss enamel1908
gloss paint1926
jelly paint1958
silicate paint-
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 149 The Pillars from top to bottom being overlaid with a Golden Wash.
1826 J. M. Sherer Notes & Refl. Ramble Germany 127 The white and yellow washes on the walls looked fresh.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 348 The floors of the dining rooms..were coloured brown with a wash made of soot and small beer.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany viii. 105 The walls and pillars are all covered with a cold grey wash.
1884 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 426/1 Syra is almost entirely a white town, relieved now and again by a dash of yellow wash.
1885 Harper'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.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > plated or coated metal > [noun] > plating or coating applied to metal > types of
goldOE
wash1695
tinning1762
rolled gold1822
zopissa1862
nickel plate1873
coke finish1898
1695 J. Collier Misc. upon Moral Subj. 97 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.
1861 Act 24 & 25 Victoria 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. in extended use.1855 R. Browning Two in Campagna v Silence and passion, joy and peace, An everlasting wash of air—Rome's ghost since her decease.
a. The washing of the waves upon the shore; surging movement of the sea or other water. Neptune's salt wash (quot. 1604) a bombastic periphrasis for ‘the sea’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > wave > movement of waves > [noun] > breaking or dashing
beating?c1225
jasch1513
wash1579
plash breach1582
breacha1616
breaking1647
plunge1781
jow1820
c1050 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 179/35 Aquarum alluuio, wætera gewæsc.
c1050 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 187/8 Alluuium, wæter~gewæsc.]
1579 S. Gosson Apol. Schoole of Abuse (Arb.) 65 Truth is..harde, and cannot be broke with washe.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. ii. 149 Full thirtie times hath Phebus cart gone round Neptunes salt wash, and Tellus orb'd ground. View more context for this quotation
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 57 At the Entry into the Harbour only a Rock withstands the Washes.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World ii. 170 Their Carpenters..raised their Sides as well as they could, to keep off the Wash of the Sea.
1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 59 The wash and bash of Rains, and the violence of the Winter Winds, which are all fatal to this Ground.
1751 S. Whatley England's Gazetteer at Watchet Great quantities of alabaster, which fall down the cliffs here by the wash of the sea, are also sent to that city [sc. Bristol].
1855 Ld. Tennyson Brook in Maud & Other Poems 111 Katie walks By the long wash of Australasian seas Far off.
1865 P. H. Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 5 Here we were..facing the westerly breeze, and pitching and rolling in the wash of the sea.
1872 J. D. Dana Corals & Coral Islands ii. 137 An important protection to the roof against the wash of the waters.
1894 H. Caine Manxman iv. xviii The wash of the waves touched his feet.
b.
(a) A surge raised in the sea or other piece of water by the passage of a vessel.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > wave > movement of waves > [noun] > surging, rolling, or heaving
walteringc1400
washing?1473
rolling1485
walterc1540
surging1585
boil1805
welteringa1807
seethe1816
ride1822
whelm1842
welter1849
washing in1877
wash1883
1883 G. H. Boughton in Harper's Mag. Feb. 393/1 We were steaming along splendidly now, sending up a fine wash and swash along the banks.
1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 344/2 The steam-launch..sends a ‘wash’ along the shore.
1890 R. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > a movement of air > a current of air > rush of air caused by moving body > behind moving body
wake1851
wash1910
slipstream1913
wind-stream1929
1910 R. Ferris How it Flies xx. 474 Wash, the air~currents flowing out diagonally from the sides of a moving aeroplane.
1931 Flight 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.
1972 Daily 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of water > [noun] > in movement
wash1845
swash1847
souse1883
sloosh1919
1845 J. Coulter Adventures Pacific ix. 109 I..listened to the wash of the briny element on the beach.
1871 H. W. Longfellow in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1891) III. 177 The low wash of the sea very soothing.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule iii. 45 The wash of the ripples along the coast could be heard.
1918 Blackwood's 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); frequently in combination with preceding noun, as in rainwash n. at rain n.1 Compounds 2, sheet-wash n. at sheet n.1 Compounds 2, soil wash n. at soil n.1 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [noun] > loss of material > wearing away > wear due to waves
wash1791
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > movement of material > [noun] > by wind, water, or ice > movement by water
washing?1473
scour17..
wash1835
rainwash1863
washing in1877
overwash1886
soil wash1926
1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse §78 To prevent that wash of the joints, that a very exposed situation might subject it to.
1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. xxxii. 88 Bermuda grass, is used with great success to check the progress of a wash.
1859 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1857–8 3 412 Land lying in such a position as to protect it from wash..may be kept in constant cultivation.
1872 J. R. Lowell Dante in Writ. (1890) IV. 224 This three-arched bridge, still firm against the wash and wear of ages.
1913 Bull. Bureau of Soils U.S. Dept. Agric. No. 96. 19 This wasteful wash can be checked..by seeding the land to soil-binding grasses.
1959 G. 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.
1970 R. 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. † b. The portion of the shore washed by the waves. Obsolete.
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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [noun] > covered by sea
washc1440
sea-common1584
salting1712
inksa1740
tide-land1787
sea-grounds1826
salting-mound1908
shore1919
tide-water1949
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > system > [noun] > mouth or outfall > specific
the Washesa1548
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 517/2 Wasche, watur or forde [v.r. forth], vadum.
a1548 E. Hall Chron.: Edward VI 208 b King Edward..with all hast possible passed the wasshes..& came to the toune of Lynne.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. iii. xxvi. 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.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Passade The swift course of the flowing, and ebbing of the sea, on the Sandes, or Washes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. vi. 42 Halfe my power this night..are taken by the Tide, These Lincolne-Washes haue deuoured them. View more context for this quotation
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 140 Upon the bay which Ptolomy names, Æstuariam Metaris, vulgarly called, the Washes, lieth the large Towne of Linne.
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) V. 312 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.
1641 W. Prynne New Discov. Prelates Tyranny ii. 93 Hee departed out of Chester..his friends conducted them over the washes which are dangerous.
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Richard II ccliii, in Poems (1878) III. 200 Mowbray, who had gone all the way along Vpon these Washes..Now to goe further, thought a Quick-sand sprung Might swallow him.
1681 W. Robertson Phraseologia generalis (1693) 1295 The washes, as in Lincolnshire; Æstuaria.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 119 There was no way now left, but that by the Washes into Lincolnshire.
1740 G. Lynn Let. 21 Apr. in Philos. Trans. 1740–41 (Royal Soc.) (1744) 41 689 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.
1851 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 12 ii. 289 The great bay or wash, which forms the sole receptacle for the drainage waters, is so shallow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [noun] > beach or foreshore
strand plat1582
beach1600
playa1600
wash1614
foreshore1764
sublittoral1886
shore zone1921
midlittoral1948
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. iii. §7. 259 Euen at the very brincke and wash of the Sea.
a1618 W. Raleigh Apol. Voy. Guiana 15 in Judicious & Sel. Ess. (1650) The Towne being seated upon the very Wash of the Sea.
1698 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 20 410 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > marsh, bog, or swamp > [noun]
marsheOE
fenc888
sladec893
moorOE
mossOE
marshlandlOE
lay-fena1225
lay-mirea1225
moor-fenc1275
flosha1300
strother?a1300
marish1327
carrc1330
waterlanda1382
gaseync1400
quaba1425
paludec1425
mersec1440
sumpa1450
palus?1473
wash1483
morass1489
oozea1500
bog?a1513
danka1522
fell1538
soga1552
Camarine1576
gog1583
swale1584
sink1594
haga1600
mere1609
flata1616
swamp1624
pocosin1634
frogland1651
slash1652
poldera1669
savannah1671
pond-land1686
red bog1686
swang1691
slack1719
flowa1740
wetland1743
purgatory1760
curragh1780
squall1784
marais1793
vlei1793
muskeg1806
bog-pit1820
prairie1820
fenhood1834
pakihi1851
terai1852
sponge1856
takyr1864
boglet1869
sinkhole1885
grimpen1902
sphagnum bog1911
blanket bog1939
string bog1959
1483 Cath. Angl. 414/2 A Wesche, tesquum, in plurali tesqua.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. iii. i. 52 Within the washes and downes of Bœtis there is the town Nebrissa.
1794 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Cambr. 174 The crops on the interior commons and washes suffered extremely by these [wire worms, etc.] at first.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. viii. 144 Beyond Earith where now run the great washes of the Bedford Level.
1905 Athenæum 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > stream > [noun] > bed of
rakeeOE
channela1387
cannela1400
watercourse1566
alveus1686
waterstead1775
fiumara1820
stream-way1822
wash1894
1894 Amer. Rev. Reviews Nov. 508/2 The center of it [Pachango Valley] is occupied with the broad sandy ‘wash’ characteristic of Southern California streams.
1897 Outing 29 582/1 Temescal Wash is a mile wide and composed of sand and prickly pear cactus.
1904 19th 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > lake > [noun] > lagoon
wash1530
lagoon1612
jheel1805
sea-lake1816
haff1859
pound1867
pond1926
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > tributary > [noun] > side-stream or backwater
wash1530
by-river1577
by-stream1615
float1629
slew1708
by-rilla1711
marigot1759
off-stream1793
slougha1817
spreader1845
backwater1863
by-water1863
by-channel1864
billabong1865
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > stream > [noun] > other
well streamOE
letch1138
well strandc1429
pow1481
black water1483
wash1530
gravel-brook1591
spring branch1650
pour1790
water splash1820
chalk stream1829
understream1830
water feeder1831
quebrada1833
black spring1847
weir-stream1889
obsequent1895
anti-dip1900
resequent1901
misfit1910
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 287/1 Wasshe of water, marre.
1549 J. Leland Laboryouse Journey sig. D. ivv There is almost neyther cape nor baye, hauen, creke, or pere, ryuer or confluence of ryuers, breches, washes, lakes, meres, fenny waters, mountaynes, valleys, mores, [etc.].
1592 ‘C. Cony-Catcher’ Def. Conny-catching sig. C2v Iacke..away hee rydes singing towardes Enfield [from Edmonton], as he road, he met at the washes with the Miller.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxi. iv. 410 The raine that fell caused all the washes arising from the river Nilus which watered the grounds, to be bitter.
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. 248 Conveying themselves over the washes and marishes in flotes and troughes of hollowed trees.
1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia i. ii. 3 The other sort is digged vp in Fountaines, Riuers, Washes, Salt-Meeres, Sea-shoares.
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso i. xxxix. 52 The glorious Venetian Liberty..was planted in those Washes.
1658 Earl of Monmouth tr. P. Paruta Hist. Venice ii. ii. 109 The Washes, or Moorish grounds, whereon the City of Venice is placed.
1673 Pleasant 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.
1695 R. Thoresby 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.
1782 W. Cowper John Gilpin 135 Till he came unto the Wash Of Edmonton so gay.
1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. I. iii. 41 The gutters were suddenly a torrent; the pavement a dancing wash.
1848 ‘F. Forester’ Field Sports U.S. & Brit. Provinces Amer. II. 28 The wide extent of salt marshes and meadows, interspersed with shallow land-locked washes and lagoons.
1857 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 10 Apr. in Eng. Notebks. (1997) II. v. 185 The housekeeper said it was not a stream, but only a ‘wash’.
1878 S. H. Miller & S. B. J. Skertchly Fenland vi. 158 Banks were made..enclosing a space called a Wash ‘for the waters to bed in’ in time of flood.
1884 Auk Oct. 356 I came to a wash a few feet wide and a foot or so deep.
III. Water waste or liquid refuse.
9. Waste water discharged after use in washing; liquid refuse. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > waste water > that has been used for washing
washingsc1330
washc1440
dishwater1484
dish-wash1592
rinsing1703
dish-washings1771
sindings1823
wash-water1853
bath-waste1936
c1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1105 And all the wesshe out of thi bathis [L. balnearum..eluvies] The gardyn thorgh to go, therto no scathe is.
1797 E. Burke Third Let. Peace Regicide Directory France 70 If his Majesty had kept aloof from that wash and off-scouring of every thing that is low and barbarous in the world.
1833 H. Martineau Brooke & Brooke Farm (ed. 3) 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. Scottish and northern. Stale urine: used as a detergent and as a mordant.Perhaps so called from its use in washing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing agents > [noun] > water or solutions > types of solution > urine
lye14..
wash?a1505
chamber-lye1561
a1505 R. Henryson Sum Pract. Med. 48 in Poems (1981) 181 This vntment is rycht ganand for ȝour awin vs, With reid nettill seid in strang wesche to steip.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 4146 Ane curtill queine..Of strang wesche scho will tak ane iurdane, And settis in the gyle-fat.
1548 R. Burrant Accustation George Wysehart sig. Eij Thou false hereticke [i.e. Wishart], saydest that holy water is not so good as washe, & such lyke.
1703 R. Thoresby Let. 27 Apr. in J. Ray Corr. (1848) 429 Wesh, or wash, urine.
1737 A. Ramsay Coll. Scots Prov. (1750) 65 Learn your goodame to kirn wash.
1743 Sel. Trans. Soc. Improvers Knowl. Agric. Scotl. 368 Put into your Copper a little stale Wash, which will make your Wald spend, and raise your Colour.
1882 Crookes 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. figurative.1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. 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.
a. Kitchen swill or brewery refuse as food for swine: = hogwash n., pigwash n. (So German dialect wäsch.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun] > fodder > pig fodder > wash
swine meat1434
hogwashc1450
swash1528
swillinga1529
swilla1570
wash1585
washmeat1688
slop1805
pigswill1862
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 51/1 Porcus colluuiaris,..an hogge fed with wash and draffe.
1592 N. Breton Pilgrimage Paradise (Grosart) 22/2 The sweetest wine, is but as swinish wash, Unto the water, of the well of life.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III v. ii. 9 The wretched, bloudie, and vsurping bore,..Swils your warme bloud like wash, and makes his trough, In your inboweld bosomes. View more context for this quotation
1665 R. South Serm. preached before Court 18 As different as the silence of an Archimedes in the study of a Problem, and the stilness of a Sow at her Wash.
1732 Acc. Workhouses 79 They have a pig or two brought in, to live upon their wash, and dregs.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 132/1 The hogs' food obtained by these street-folk, or, as I most frequently heard it called, the ‘wash’.
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone II. iv. 57 She..pointed to the great bock of wash, and riddlings, and brown hulkage.
1896 S. Baring-Gould Dartmoor Idylls v. 129 When she carried the sow her pail of wash.
b. Liquid food for other animals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun]
mungc1380
battling1611
pabuluma1661
mess1738
wash1847
box food1886
premix1957
1847 W. 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. Alluvial deposit, and related uses.
12.
a. Matter washed away by running water; solid particles carried away by a stream and deposited as sediment; alluvial deposit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > sediment or alluvium > [noun]
siltc1440
warpingc1440
slitch?a1475
sleech1587
alluvium1665
sediment1685
sullage1691
warp1698
wash1707
washing1707
alluvion1731
silting1739
warp land1794
alluvial1818
siltage1876
flood-loam1880
putty1883
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 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 W. Burke Acct. European Settlem. Amer. II. vi. i. 60 In these plains, the soil augmented by the wash of the mountains for so many ages, is prodigiously fertile.
1860 J. L. Motley Hist. Netherlands (1868) I. i. 8 A territory, the mere wash of three great rivers.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. xiii. 125 ‘Tastes like the wash of the river.’ ‘Are you so familiar with the flavour of the wash of the river?’
1883 Mod. Rev. July 682 The land..has been built up out of the wash of ancient rivers and the sands of vanished seas.
1888 J. D. Whitney Names & Places 125 The debris-piles which stretch along the lower slopes of the ranges in the Cordilleran Region are locally known as washes.
1895 S. Baring-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.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral deposits > features of stratum or vein > [noun] > material above > above coal
roof1575
wark1707
top rock1803
wash1882
1882 Rep. Prec. Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) iii. 635 A..portion of the gravels or ‘wash’..is removed by..drifting, from underneath worthless or comparatively barren ground.
1888 W. E. Nicholson Gloss. Terms Coal Trade (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. Something from which gold can be extracted, and related uses.
13.
a. (See quot. 1728.) ? Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > other metallic materials > [noun] > wash containing gold or silver sweepings
washa1631
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1955) II. 235 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.
1728 E. Chambers 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > suitable for washing
wash-ore1653
wash-gravel1860
wash-dirt1862
washa1875
a1875 Hector 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.].
1879 R. J. Atcherley Trip to Boërland 143 We had extracted about a hundred~weight of wash.
1880 L. Fison & A. W. Howitt Kamilaroi & Kurnai 272 The great ‘reef washes’ of Ballarat are to be referred to the period of depression.
1886 N.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.
1890 Goldfields of Victoria 7 A company has been formed to work the ‘first floor’ which shows gold and tin in 10 feet of wash.
1897 Daily 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > distilling > [noun] > wort
wash1699
malt wash1729
pot ale1812
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Wash, After-wort.
1701 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) V. 55 That 2d. per gallon be laid on all low wines or spirits drawn from brewers wash.
1709 London Gaz. No. 4624/1 An Act to Prohibit the Exportation of..Worts and Wash drawn from Malted Corn.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Wash, the distillers name for the fermentable liquor, made by dissolving the proper subject for fermentation and distillation in common water.
1815 Ann. Reg., Chron. 43 Besides the still, a considerable quantity of wash, and some low wines, were found.
1825 Gentleman's Mag. 95 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’.
1880 Act 43 & 44 Vict. c. 24 §5 (1) No person may, without being licensed..(b) Brew or make wort or wash.
1903 Times 22 Aug. 8/6 200 gallons of ‘wash’—liquor prepared with sugar, barley, flour, &c.
1908 Westm. 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 figurative, vapid discourse or writing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > weak writing or discourse
wash1548
insipidness1711
writation1757
milk-and-water1792
wish-wash1842
slush1869
hogwash1870
insipidity1875
slosh1894
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > types or qualities of intoxicating liquor > [noun] > inferior
swilling1545
pigwash1604
hogwash1610
tiffa1635
rag water1699
necessity1748
wash1819
bellywash1840
Hoochinoo1877
hooch1897
pink-eye1900
shypoo1901
King Kong1937
scrap iron1942
Montana gin1986
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke iii. f. 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].
1819 W. S. Rose Lett. from 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.].
1830 J. Rayson Misc. Poems, Songs, & Ballads 43 Nae mair weast yer money on ony sec wesh.
1895 J. Nicholson Kilwuddie (ed. 4) 166 We kentna the goo' o' the wash we drink noo, That puir, feckless skiddle ca'd tea.
1911 R. 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 11a figurative and 15a figurative, and hogwash n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > [noun]
magged talea1387
moonshine1468
trumperyc1485
foolishness1531
trash1542
baggage1545
flim-flam1570
gear1570
rubbisha1576
fiddle-faddle1577
stuff1579
fible-fable1581
balductum1593
pill1608
nonsense1612
skimble-skamble1619
porridge1642
mataeology1656
fiddle-come-faddle1663
apple sauce1672
balderdash1674
flummery1749
slang1762
all my eye1763
diddle-daddle1778
(all) my eye (and) Betty Martin1781
twaddle1782
blancmange1790
fudge1791
twiddle-twaddle1798
bothering1803
fee-faw-fum1811
slip-slop1811
nash-gab1816
flitter-tripe1822
effutiation1823
bladderdash1826
ráiméis1828
fiddlededee1843
pickles1846
rot1846
kelter1847
bosh1850
flummadiddle1850
poppycock1852
Barnum1856
fribble-frabble1859
kibosh1860
skittle1864
cod1866
Collyweston1867
punk1869
slush1869
stupidness1873
bilge-water1878
flapdoodle1878
tommyrot1880
ruck1882
piffle1884
flamdoodle1888
razzmatazz1888
balls1889
pop1890
narrischkeit1892
tosh1892
footle1894
tripe1895
crap1898
bunk1900
junk1906
quatsch1907
bilge1908
B.S.1912
bellywash1913
jazz1913
wash1913
bullshit?1915
kid-stakes1916
hokum1917
bollock1919
bullsh1919
bushwa1920
noise1920
bish-bosh1922
malarkey1923
posh1923
hooey1924
shit1924
heifer dust1927
madam1927
baloney1928
horse feathers1928
phonus-bolonus1929
rhubarb1929
spinach1929
toffeea1930
tomtit1930
hockey1931
phoney baloney1933
moody1934
cockalorum1936
cock1937
mess1937
waffle1937
berley1941
bull dust1943
crud1943
globaloney1943
hubba-hubba1944
pish1944
phooey1946
asswipe1947
chickenshit1947
slag1948
batshit1950
goop1950
slop1952
cack1954
doo-doo1954
cobbler1955
horse shit1955
nyamps1955
pony1956
horse manure1957
waffling1958
bird shit1959
codswallop1959
how's your father1959
dog shit1963
cods1965
shmegegge1968
pucky1970
taradiddle1970
mouthwash1971
wank1974
gobshite1977
mince1985
toss1990
arse1993
1913 A. Lunn Harrovians xvii. 287 The Housemasters call their Sixth together at intervals and gass 'em... You know the kind of wash.
1933 G. 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. An oar-blade.
16. The blade of an oar.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > rowing apparatus > [noun] > oar > blade of oar
bladec1000
oar-bladeOE
palma1522
wash1769
bowl1805
peel1875
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine at Oar That part of the oar..which enters into the water, is called the blade, or wash.
VIII. Senses of obscure or doubtful origin.† 18. Some part of a horse's eye. Obsolete.
17. A measure for oysters and whelks.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > shell-fish or mollusc > quantity of shellfish
wash1481
1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 370 Item, for ij. wash and di. of oystres at Wevenho, iiij. d.
1574 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (1911) 444 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 5567) XXVII. 1 To Walter Tayler for viij washe of oysters and for charges from Dunesbye, vj s. viij d.
1661 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 2) A Wash of Oysters is ten Strikes.
1677 Maldon (Essex) Borough Deeds (Bundle 101, No. 2) Paid for a wash of oysters presented to a gent. in London vpon the town's account.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 163/2 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.
1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 256/2 Each smack takes about 40 wash of whelks with her for the voyage.
1882 Standard 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [noun] > parts of eye
wash1639
brill1688
1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. viii. 170 I have oft times seene the French Marishals 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 meanes he cutteth away the wash of the eye, which indeed is the beauty of the eye.
1737 H. Bracken Farriery Improved xvii. 240 Farriers taking up the Wash of the Eye with a Needle and Thread.
19. The underground den of a beaver or a bear.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [noun] > family Castoridae (beaver) > lodge
lodge1567
hut1669
wash1809
beavery1877
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Ursidae (bear) > [noun] > den
wash1877
1809 A. Henry Trav. & Adventures Canada 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.
1877 E. Coues Fur-bearing Animals 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. 20a).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > public or popular punishments > [noun] > hammering on desk (of colleague)
washing1825
wash1841
1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 810.
b. Stock Market. 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > specific operations or arrangements > disreputable
poison pill1653
rig1826
cornering1841
wash-sale1848
washing1849
market-rigging1851
corner1853
watering1868
wreck1876
manipulation1888
wash1891
market mongering1901
matched orders1903
grey market1933
bond washing1937
warehousing1971
bed-and-breakfasting1974
dawn raid1980
1891 in Cent. Dict.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. In sense 14, designating various vessels in which the distiller's ‘wash’ is contained or elaborated.
wash-back n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > distilling > [noun] > wort > vessel for
wash-back1839
wash-charger1839
wash-heater1839
1839 A. Ure 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.
wash-batch n.
ΚΠ
1696–7 Act 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.].
wash-charger n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > distilling > [noun] > wort > vessel for
wash-back1839
wash-charger1839
wash-heater1839
1839Wash charger [see wash-back n.].
wash-cistern n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > still > [noun] > vessel of
alembicc1405
retort1527
bagpipe1558
cornute1605
refrigeratory1605
campane1662
cornue1672
refrigerant1678
culb1683
vesica1683
blind-head1743
ambix1781
refrigerator1798
still-tub1826
wash-cistern1853
wash-warmer1900
1853 A. Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 5 The wash~cistern..should be supported on a shelf near the ceiling of the stove-heated apartment.
wash-heater n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > distilling > [noun] > wort > vessel for
wash-back1839
wash-charger1839
wash-heater1839
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1182 The water..is carried off by the pipe m, through the vessel n, called the wash-heater.
wash-warmer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > still > [noun] > vessel of
alembicc1405
retort1527
bagpipe1558
cornute1605
refrigeratory1605
campane1662
cornue1672
refrigerant1678
culb1683
vesica1683
blind-head1743
ambix1781
refrigerator1798
still-tub1826
wash-cistern1853
wash-warmer1900
1900 S. P. Sadtler 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.
b. (In sense 11.)
wash-buyer n.
ΚΠ
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 133/1 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.
C2. † wash-tumbler n. Obsolete ? a glass for holding washes for the complexion or the teeth.† wash-yard n. Obsolete ? the yard attached to a wash-house. See also wash v. Compounds 2, Compounds 3.
wash-bag n. a small waterproof bag for holding toilet articles; a sponge-bag.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > sponge-bag
sponge bag1825
toilet roll1877
Dopp kit1937
wash-bag1972
1972 E. Thorpe Night I caught Santa Fé Chief i. 11 I took the wash-bag out of the grip; the face-cloth was slightly damp.
1980 G. Lord Fortress i. 10 She..picked up her wash-bag. She went..to the bathroom.
wash-basket n. (a) U.S. see quot. 1881; (b) a basket for clothes sent to the wash.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > basket > [noun] > made of strips of wood
swill1395
wash-basket1881
chip1922
spelk1949
spale1959
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > bag or basket for washing
buck-basket1602
voider1707
clothes-basketa1806
bucking-basket1822
wash-basket1881
laundry bag1895
linen basket1907
washing basket1947
Ali Baba1978
1881 E. Ingersoll Oyster-industry (10th Census U.S.: Bureau of Fisheries) 249 Wash-basket, a rude splint basket, circular, shallow, holding about a peck, and with a high bale-handle (Rhode Island).
1903 Daily Chron. 26 June 3/7 The family wash-basket.
wash-bill n. U.S. = washing-bill n. at washing n. Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > laundry-book or bill
washing-billa1817
washing-book1868
wash-bill1873
society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > invoice or bill > types of
long bill1616
by-bill1732
house bill1754
gas bill1816
advice note1834
pro forma1836
wash-bill1873
telephone bill1889
phone bill1936
1873 B. Harte Episode of 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.
wash-book n. a scoring-book or tablet used at bridge.
ΚΠ
1908 R. F. Foster Auction Bridge 38 The result of the rubber is usually transferred to a wash-book or flogger.
wash coat n. an undercoat, esp. one for improving or preparing the surface rather than giving a colour.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > decorating and painting > [noun] > painting > coat of paint > specific coats
first coat?1600
overcoating1855
undercoat1873
base coat1907
undercoating1922
guide coat1930
overpaint1944
wash coat1951
overcoat1959
1951 M. 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.
1960 McGraw-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.
1961 J. 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.
wash-day n. the day for the washing of clothes in a household = washing-day n. at washing n. Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > time for washing clothes
washing-weeka1631
washing-daya1632
wash-day1846
1846 Southern & Western Literary Messenger & Rev. 12 598/1 Thursday is wash-day.
1864 M. Gatty Parables 4th Ser. 9 He had watered it..with soap-suds on a wash-day.
1905 Scribner's Mag. Jan. 35 ‘You shouldn't dine with her on wash-days,’ said Selden.
wash-fast adj. that can be washed without losing colour or dye.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > colouring > dyeing > [adjective] > fast dyed
in grainc1386
grained1455
engrained1598
fast1658
standing1716
ingrain1766
fixed1791
fast-dyed1815
colourfast1851
wash-fast1963
1963 A. J. Hall Student's Handbk. Textile Sci. iv. 184 This method of dyeing can be used to produce wash-fast shades.
1977 Private 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.
wash-fastness n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > colouring > colouring matter > [noun] > dye > fast dye > quality
stability1791
wash-fastness1962
1962 J. 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.
wash-land n. a tract of land periodically overflowed by a river.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > land near river > [noun] > flooded
holm?c1050
wash-land1794
callow1823
khadar1828
flood-plain1873
flood-landa1881
berm1891
várzea1911
toich1948
1794 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Cambr. 191 The washlands amount to about three thousand acres.
1878 S. H. Miller & S. B. J. Skertchly Fenland i. 6 Along this course..are wash-lands which receive the waters of the river when it overflows.
1883 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Nov. 70/2 In some cases the rivers have even inner and outer banks, with washlands between them.
wash-linen n. linen sent to the wash.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > clothes to be or that have been washed
buck1532
wash1789
snow1811
washing1843
wash-linen1901
laundry1916
dry cleaning1930
1901 W. Osler Princ. & Pract. Med. (ed. 4) i. 5 The infection [of typhoid fever] may be spread by means of clothing and wash-linen.
wash-plain n. a tract of land formed by alluvial deposits.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > tract > [noun] > alluvial
slobland1837
branch-bottom1880
wash-plain1899
1899 Nature 13 July 259/1 These ‘wash plains’ or stream deltas and fans constitute a very important feature in the Pleistocene deposits of the region.
wash primer n. a wash coat for use on metal.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > painting or coating materials > [noun] > paint > metal primer
wash primer1961
1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Wash primer.
1963 Times 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.
1973 Materials & Technol. VI. viii. 552 The next important consumer of polyvinyl acetals is the lacquer and paint industry (for wash-primers).
wash-sale n. see quot. 1891 (cf. sense 20); cf. washed adj. 1f.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > specific operations or arrangements > disreputable
poison pill1653
rig1826
cornering1841
wash-sale1848
washing1849
market-rigging1851
corner1853
watering1868
wreck1876
manipulation1888
wash1891
market mongering1901
matched orders1903
grey market1933
bond washing1937
warehousing1971
bed-and-breakfasting1974
dawn raid1980
1848 W. Armstrong Stocks 19 These wash sales are of course void between parties. They are of very frequent occurrence and very mischievous.
1891 Cent. Dict. Wash sales, in the stock-market, feigned sales, made for the sake of advantage gained by the report of a fictitious price.
1908 Times 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning or cleanliness of the person > [noun] > cleaning the teeth > lip-glass or tooth-glass
wash-tumbler1774
lip-glass1825
tooth-glass1858
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > washing the hands > vessel for washing the hands (and face) > glass for holding washes for the complexion
wash-tumbler1774
1774 Pennsylvania Gaz. 14 Dec. 1/1 Glass. Cut candlesticks, decanters, wash tumblers, wine glasses, [etc.].
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > place where washing is done
lavendry1377
washing-house14..
bucking-stoke1483
laundry1577
wash-house1577
laundry-house1585
bucking-house1597
wash-yardc1625
lavatory1661
buck-house1738
woman-house1754
wash-kitchen1838
water-shed1859
washery1875
c1625 in W. Robinson Hackney (1842) I. 111 [Inventory of Goods] In the Wash-house..In the Wash-yarde. Item—One great cesterne of leade, [etc.].
Draft additions 1993
Photography. The liquid in which a newly developed photographic plate or print is washed.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > chemicals > [noun] > others
accelerator1843
nitroglucose1852
restrainer1865
medium1867
intensifier1883
stop bath1898
opaque1908
bleacher1911
coupler1938
wash1953
1953 M. 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.
1988 Practical Photogr. Sept. 83/1 Take the print from the wash and place it into the bleach.
Draft additions 1993
A balanced outcome; a situation or result which is of no net gain or loss. U.S. colloquial (originally Commerce).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > compromise > [noun] > instance of
midsc1485
temper?1523
composition1597
temperature1598
temperament1604
medium1719
compromise1797
come-between1877
trade-off1909
wash1976
1976 National 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.
1983 Fortune 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.’
1989 Atlantic Sept. 20/3 There is a remote possibility..that statistically the matter is a wash.
Draft additions April 2010
wash cycle n. a washing process carried out in a machine, industrial plant, etc.; spec. a stage in the operation of a washing machine or dishwasher during which items are cleaned using water and detergent; cf. rinse cycle n. at rinse n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1916 Bull. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers July 1610 Extraction on 1.4 per cent. ore using closed wash cycle, 82 per cent.
1947 N.Y. Times 19 June 35/4 (advt.) Standard wash tests show zero shrinkage after 15 wash cycles.
2010 Irish News (Nexis) 8 Mar. 27 The wash cycle proceeds with the regular ‘klonk, klonk’ of the rotor-blades beating the daylights out of your Denby dinner plates.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† washadj.
Obsolete.
Washy, weak, tender.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily weakness > [adjective]
wokec897
unstronga900
unmightyeOE
feeblec1175
strengthlessc1175
unwieldc1220
weaka1300
frailc1384
unwieldyc1386
unthendec1425
dissolutec1450
unsure?a1475
feyc1475
simple1477
unfirm1483
unsinewed?1541
wash1548
weakling1557
ladylike1566
silly1567
water weak1592
washya1631
wankle1686
foible1715
unmuscular1725
nerveless1792
wankly1795
shilpit1813
wankya1825
sinewless1829
weedy-looking1835
queachy1859
insubstantiala1861
paper-backed1888
weak-fleshed1967
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adjective] > weak (of immaterial things)
thin?c1225
wateryc1230
feeble1393
wash1548
waterish1549
fadea1554
limping1577
dilute1605
lank1607
languid1622
water gruel1630
invalid1635
sinewless1644
exsanguine1647
flaccid1647
diluted1681
wishy-washy1693
tiffany1694
foible1715
rickety1738
faintly1771
unrobust1775
pale1820
peely-wally1832
muscleless1841
weakling1848
weedy?1858
feeblose1882
papery1924
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. 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.
1607 J. Marston What you Will i. i But how long doth this perfume of sweete Madam last? Faith tis but a wash sent.
a1625 J. Fletcher Bonduca iv. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Hhhh3/1 Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper, a rough-pac'd bed will shake 'em all to pieces.
a1625 J. Fletcher Rule a Wife (1640) iii. 26 Tis a wash knave, he will not keep his flesh well.
1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. iii. 59 They are naturally slow, dull, heavy, and nesh or wash of their flesh.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
washv.
/wɒʃ/, U.S. /wɔʃ/, /wɑʃ/ I. To cleanse by means of water. Also with adjective complement, to wash white, clean.
1. † b. Prov. to wash a wall of loam, a brick or tile (= Latin laterem lavare), to labour in vain. Cf. 3d.† d. Fishing. to wash off: to wash (the net) after a day's work. Also absol. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To cleanse, remove the dirt from (something) by affusion of or immersion in water.In Old English 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)]
swillc725
wash900
laveOE
bewash1589
elavate1599
to wash up1756
to wash down1877
900 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. (1865) 145 Hi sculan waxan sceap.
c1000 Ælfric Leviticus i. 9 And waxan þæt innewerde and þa fet [of the burnt offering].
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) v. 2 Ða fisceras eodon, & woxon heora net.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 5078 Heo..wascen þa waȝes [c1300 Otho wassen þe wowes].
13.. St. Alexius 311 (Laud 108) As he wessch here dissches.
1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. III. 315 Diogenes wisshe [v.rr. wische, wysch] wortes in a tyme.
1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. VI. 403 Sche wolde take þe schoon of here sustres priveliche by nyȝte and wasche [v.rr. wasse, waysche] hem and smere hem.
1412–20 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. 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.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 18 Pyke hem clene, & skrape hem, & Wasshem clene.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 114 Nym ye ris, whess hem clene.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 230 A good huswijf..now sche sethith, now sche rostith, now sche weischith disschis.
1520 in Archaeologia 25 437 For wayshyng of the flocke at Frynge iij s. iiij d.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 24 Water..for washing of glasses.
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 317 In Kent..they wash their sheep in the following manner.
1752 E. Moxon Eng. Housewifery (new ed.) 185 Take cockles at a full moon and wash them.
1773 J. Campbell Treat. Mod. Faulconry 199 When you give her casting of flannel or cotton, take care to have them washen as clean as they can be.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. I. 189 The second-floor front was scrubbed, and washed, and flannelled.
1849 C. J. Lever Confessions Con Cregan I. xviii. 284 Carriages, too, were washing, and high-bred horses standing out to be groomed.
1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing (rev. ed.) x. 127 In the sick room, the doctor should always be asked..at what hour he chooses the floor to be washed.
1905 R. Bagot Passport xxvii. 295 We could talk afterwards—while Ernana is washing the dishes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > be of no avail [verb (intransitive)] > expend effort in vain
to lose or spill one's whilec1175
to speak to the windc1330
tinec1330
to beat the windc1375
lose?a1513
to boil, roast, or wash a stonea1529
to lose (one's) oil1548
to plough the sand (also sands)a1565
to wash an ass's head (or ears)1581
to wash an Ethiop, a blackamoor (white)1581
to wash a wall of loam, a brick or tilea1600
to milk the bull (also he-goat, ram)1616
to bark against (or at) the moona1641
dead horse1640
to cast stones against the wind1657
dry-ditcha1670
baffle1860
to go, run or rush (a)round in circles1933
a1600 R. Hooker Learned Disc. (1612) 22 But we wash a wall of lome; we labor in vaine.
a1625 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) iii. v. 41 We have, As learned Authours utter, washd a Tile. View more context for this quotation
1779 J. Warner in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) IV. 263 I wish I could make him feel as he ought, but one may as well wash a brick.
c. Nautical. to wash a ship: see quot. Also absol. ? Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing other specific things > wash other specific things [verb (intransitive)] > wash a ship
to wash a ship1644
1644 H. Mainwaring 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 London Gaz. No. 28/3 The Forrester having washed and tallowed here, is gone to her station.
1679 London Gaz. No. 1445/1 They will Wash and Tallow, and then take their course to the Westward.
1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 235 The Sloop Wash'd and Tallow'd also.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > net > fishing nets [verb (transitive)] > wash net
to wash off1630
1630 Order in R. Griffiths Ess. Jurisdict. Thames (1746) 73 Upon Saturday Sun set, to wash off his Net, hale up and go home.
1630 Order in R. Griffiths Ess. Jurisdict. Thames (1746) 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).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)] > wash interior of
to wash out1827
1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. ii. 56 It is requisite that it [the bottle] be washed out after every experiment, the last two or three rincings being made with distilled water.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. 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:
(a) to wash (table utensils) after a meal. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing table utensils > wash table utensils [verb (transitive)]
to wash up1751
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing table utensils > wash table utensils [verb (intransitive)]
to wash up1820
wash1943
to get washed up1950
1751 F. Coventry Hist. 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.
1820 J. Severn Let. 17 Dec. in J. Keats Lett. (1958) II. 363 I am obliged to wash up—cook—& read to Keats all day.
1837 J. Morier Abel Allnutt xx. 116 That Betsy might be allowed to come in and help to ‘wash up’.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xlix. 473 Sitting in state to see the room cleared, the hearth swept, and the dinner-service washed up and polished in the back yard.
1905 R. Bagot Passport xxiii. 233 His supper over, and Ernana having retired into the kitchen to wash up.
(b) figurative. To bring to a conclusion; to end or finish (something). U.S. slang.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > end or conclusion > bring to an end or conclude [verb (transitive)]
yendc1000
abatec1300
finec1300
endc1305
finisha1375
definec1384
terminec1390
achievea1393
out-enda1400
terminate?a1425
conclude1430
close1439
to bring adowna1450
terma1475
adetermine1483
determine1483
to knit up1530
do1549
parclose1558
to shut up1575
expire1578
date1589
to close up1592
period1595
includea1616
apostrophate1622
to wind off1650
periodizea1657
dismiss1698
to wind up1740
to put the lid on1873
to put the tin hat on something1900
to wash up1925
1925 World (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.
1929 Sat. Evening 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!
1940 J. O'Hara Pal Joey (1952) 65 They said act of God and fire etc. wash up a contract automatically.
1972 D. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)]
swillc725
wash900
laveOE
bewash1589
elavate1599
to wash up1756
to wash down1877
1877 G. Stables Pract. Kennel Guide 129 A portion of carbolic acid should be used with the water you wash down the yard with.
1898 Jrnl. School Geogr. (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.
1901 ‘G. Douglas’ House with Green Shutters 14 Gilmour..was washing down the legs of a horse.
h. figurative. In the game of mah-jong, to shuffle (the tiles).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > table game > mah-jong > [verb (transitive)] > shuffle tiles
wash1926
1926 A. 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.
1929 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 677/1 All the tiles are..put face downward on the table and thoroughly shuffled or ‘washed’.
1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Honourable 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. 1c, wipe v. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing table utensils > wash table utensils [verb (intransitive)]
to wash up1820
wash1943
to get washed up1950
1943 L. I. Wilder These Happy Golden Years xxi. 192 Neither of you need worry about the dishes... I'll wash and Grace will wipe.
1958 J. Cannan And be Villain vii. 150 Evadne..insisted on washing while Laura dried.
1962 M. Duffy That's how it Was xiii. 115 Billy washes, Arthur wipes, you put away.
1978 Listener 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, to wash white. to wash through, to wash (a garment) by hand, often individually and hastily.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > wash clothes [verb (transitive)]
washc900
scour1467
neta1661
laundry1880
maid1882
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > wash clothes [verb (transitive)] > hastily
to wash through1936
c900 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (1890) i. xxvii. 84 He þa ærest bebead, þæt heo heora hrægl woosce & clænsode.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 57 Sume bereð sole cloð to þe watere forto wasshen it clene.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 240 Wule anweb beon anchere wel ibleached wið an water an sol clað wel iweschen.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 236 Ase linene kertel erþan hi by huyte ueleziþe him behoueþ þet he by ybeate and ywesse.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xiii. 315 Þi best cote..Hath many moles and spottes, it moste ben ywasshe.
c1450 Two Cookery-bks. 84 Take hit vppe in a faire lynnen cloth that is clene wasshen.
1497 Ledger-bk. A. Halyburton (1867) 149 Item ffor iiij men to weysch it [the wool] and dry it,..3 s.
1522 Burgh 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.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Radicula, an herbe, the iuyce whereof is good to wasshe woulle.
1568 Wyf of Auchtirmwchty 94 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 323 He trailit the fowll scheitis doun the gait Thocht to haif wechst [Ramsay wush] thame on ane stane.
1842 T. B. Macaulay Frederic the Great in Ess. (1897) 814 ‘See,’ exclaimed Voltaire, ‘what a quantity of his dirty linen the King has sent me to wash!’
1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. ii. 25 How nice my handkerchiefs look, dont they? Hannah washed and ironed them for me.
1936 N. Streatfeild Ballet Shoes ix. 136 I'll just wash your jersey through.
1968 M. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > be getting washed [verb (intransitive)]
to be (a) washing1600
1600 S. Rowlands Letting of Humors Blood v. 72 Except his Shirt's a washing.
1702 T. Brown Select Epist. Cicero 282 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 figuratively with reference to domestic quarrels or grievances, the discussion of which is best confined to the family circle.Cf. French Il faut laver son linge sale en famille.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > state or declare [verb (intransitive)] > discuss private matter in public
to wash one's dirty linen at home, in public1867
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > keep quiet about [phrase]
to keep or hold (a matter) counsel (later in counsela1400
to keep secret1399
to keep (something) dark1532
to draw a veil over1582
not to tell one's shirt1586
to keep one's (own) counsel1604
to put (also keep) in one's pocketa1616
to name no names1692
to make a secret of1738
to keep (‥) snug1778
to clap, put, or keep the thumb on1825
to wash one's dirty linen at home, in public1867
to hold back1956
to sweep (also brush, kick, etc.) (something) under the rug1956
to get it off one's chest1961
to sweep (or push) (something) under the carpet1963
society > communication > manifestation > manifestness > openness or unconcealedness > openly [phrase]
not to (or at) laina1375
with (an) open facea1425
to (one's) teeth1542
to wash one's dirty linen at home, in public1867
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset II. xliv. 2 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.
1891 Law Times 91 21/2 It is ridiculous that grave disputes..should be kept waiting while the dirty linen of high society is..washed in public.
1895 Globe 23 May 1 People who ought to wash their dirty linen at home will not be satisfied with a less public laundry than Piccadilly.
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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)]
swillc725
wash900
laveOE
bewash1589
elavate1599
to wash up1756
to wash down1877
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)] > rinse
sinda1350
spoil1480
rinsec1500
slouse1726
sluice1755
sozzle1845
slush1854
to wash out1876
sloush1889
wash1894
slooshy1907
sloosh1912
1756 F. 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.
1876 Encycl. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > wash clothes [verb (intransitive)]
washa1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 304 Item, she can wash and scoure. View more context for this quotation
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. ii She that Washeth. Lauatrix.
1671 H. M. tr. Erasmus Colloquies 420 What wilt thou do to the Germans, who wash scarce twice in a year?
1725 View London & Westm. 9 They were extraordinary Oeconomists, brew'd their own Beer, wash'd at home.
1828 Lights & Shades Eng. Life I. 242 Mrs. Stevens's things hanging out again! I thought she washed last week.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxii. 348 Betsy Martin, widow... Goes out charing and washing, by the day.
1843 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross I. ix. 176 Lucy Sandey would mangle, wash, and clear-starch.
f. transitive. To wash clothes for (a customer or lodger). dialect.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > wash clothes [verb (transitive)] > wash clothes for
wash1786
laundress1850
1786 J. Woodforde Diary 31 May (1926) II. 247 I paid her up to this Day and told her I would get another to wash him.
1795 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Essex 82 They cook, wash, lodge, and find them [the workmen] in small beer for 2s. per week.
1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. (at cited word) 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > wash clothes [verb (intransitive)] > have one's clothes washed
wash1837
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers liv. 594 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. transitive. Of water or other agent: To have the property of cleansing (clothes) easily and well. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing agents > [verb (transitive)] > wash easily or well
wash1697
1697 T. Tryon Way to Health (ed. 3) vi. 101 It [sc. rain-water] Brews and Washes to greater advantage than others.
i. intransitive. Of a fabric, a dye: To bear cleansing with soap and water without damage to colour or texture.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > wash clothes [verb (intransitive)] > be washable
wash1765
launder1908
1765 B. Franklin Let. 13 July in Wks. (1887) III. 402 Mrs. Stevenson bids me tell Sally, that the striped gown I sent her will wash.
a1817 J. Austen Northanger Abbey (1818) I. iii. 39 It is very pretty, madam..but I do not think it will wash well: I am afraid it will fray. View more context for this quotation
1840 H. 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.
1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 971/1 Only eighteen~pence a yard, ma'am, and warranted to wash.
j. figurative (colloquial) To bear trial or investigation, stand the test, find acceptance, prove to be genuine, reliable. Chiefly in (it) won't wash.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > proof, demonstration > prove, demonstrate [verb (intransitive)] > be proved to be
provec1300
verifya1387
approve1587
improve1612
bear1710
to turn up1756
to turn out1780
wash1849
1849 C. Brontë Shirley II. vii. 178 That willn't wash, Miss.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. ii. 256 He's got pluck somewhere in him. That's the only thing after all that'll wash, ain't it.
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xvi. 144 The men,—and the women too,—who are so..soft-natured, so kind,..—it so often turns out that they won't wash.
1881 Ld. Acton Lett. to M. Gladstone (1904) 99 The defect of the argument is that it will neither wear nor wash.
1911 Spectator 21 Oct. 643/1 He was not to be taken in by plausibilities that ‘wouldn't wash’.
k. passive or intransitive with out. Of a fabric: To lose colour in the wash. Hence figurative to lose all vigour or freshness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > pass (time) listlessly or lethargically [verb (transitive)] > make listless or lethargic > make dull or deprive of animation
obtunda1400
bedulla1617
hebescate1657
deaden1684
wash1846
1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 5 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 ‘H. Lee’ Basil Godfrey's Caprice l. 282 That claptrap won't wash any longer,..it is quite washed out.
1886 G. Allen For Maimie's Sake xxii A reaction has set in, and I'm quite washed out and unfit for anything.
3. † n. To clear, free from blame or aspersion.
a. To cleanse (the body or part of it) with water. Also to wash clean, to wash white.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash one's body or part of it [verb (transitive)]
washc1160
ablute1703
c1160 Hatton Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 24 Pilatus..weosc [c1000 Ags. Gosp. þwoh] hys hande beforan þam folke.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 15122 To wasshenn offte þeȝȝre lic. Wiþþ waterr all wiþþ utenn.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 240 Þu wescheð þine honden in anlepi dei dei twiȝen oðer þriȝen.
a1300 Marina 172 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 173 Go we whosshen vr dede broþer.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2289 After ðat grot he weis is wliten.
1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 423 Oure bodies ne ben in no baþ wahche.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Judith x. 3 She wesh [a1425 L.V. waischide] hir bodi.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) ii. l. 267 Scho warmyt wattir, and hir serwandis fast His body wousche.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) ii. 61 They..asked after water for to wasse their handes.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xix. A Let your fete be waszshen.
1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 262 Thair come our kitteis weschin clene.
1622 J. Taylor Farewell to Tower-bottles A 8 Many times you haue beene fild with trash, Scarce good enough your dirty skins to wash.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 73. ⁋3 Keep your Temper, wash your Face, and go to Bed.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxviii. 349 To wash and dress this young gentleman.
1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles I. i. 11 Here's Francis coming down-stairs. He went up to wash his hands.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 610 The patient may be washed with sulphur soap.
b. const. of. rare.
ΚΠ
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) vi. v. 193 Whan chyldren ben wasshe of fylthe anone they defoyle themself ayen.
1897 O. 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.
ΚΠ
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) xiii. ix. 445 The ryuer Jordan wisshe and clensyd Naaman of Syria of his lepre.
1550 J. Heywood Hundred Epigrammes xxviii. sig. Biiv Saue water, whiche dooeth washe thy handes.
d. Proverbs. †one hand washeth another (see quots. 1581, 1593). to wash an Ethiop, a blackamoor (white); to wash an ass's head (or ears): to labour in vain (cf. 1b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > be of no avail [verb (intransitive)] > expend effort in vain
to lose or spill one's whilec1175
to speak to the windc1330
tinec1330
to beat the windc1375
lose?a1513
to boil, roast, or wash a stonea1529
to lose (one's) oil1548
to plough the sand (also sands)a1565
to wash an ass's head (or ears)1581
to wash an Ethiop, a blackamoor (white)1581
to wash a wall of loam, a brick or tilea1600
to milk the bull (also he-goat, ram)1616
to bark against (or at) the moona1641
dead horse1640
to cast stones against the wind1657
dry-ditcha1670
baffle1860
to go, run or rush (a)round in circles1933
1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) iii. 165 As one hand washeth another, and both of them the face, so one brother ought to support another.
1592 T. Lodge Euphues Shadow (1882) 53 Who washeth the Asses eares, looseth both his Sope and his labour.
1593 G. Harvey New Let. in Wks. (1884) I. 269 One hand washeth an other: and it apperteineth vnto him, that taketh something, to giue some~thing.
1604 J. Marston Malcontent iv. iii. sig. F3 I washt an Ethiop, who for recompence Sullyde my name.
a1614 J. Melville Autobiogr. & Diary (1842) 375 We mein nocht to tyne tyme in wassing of sic Moores.
1635 L. Foxe North-west Fox sig. Ii4v I have now washt the Black-moore these five yeares, having yet received neither Sallery, wages or reward. marg. Laboured in vaine.
1639 J. Clarke Paroemiologia 155 He that washeth an asses head loseth both his lye and his labour.
a1640 P. Massinger Parl. of Love (1976) ii. ii. 70 For, beinge censurd, Or to extenuate or excuse my guilt Weare but to wash an Ethiop.
a1791 J. Wesley Serm. (1825) II. lxviii. 158 In the most elegant language, she labours to wash the Æthiop white.
1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. 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 connection with.So in French and other modern languages; originally an allusion to Pilate's washing his hands (Matthew xxvii. 24).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > be exempt from (a liability or obligation) [verb (transitive)] > disown responsibility for
to wash one's hands of?1554
?1554 Lady J. Grey Epist. sig. Bvij I wil wash my hands giltles thereof.
1570 G. Buchanan Chamæleon in Vernac. Writings (1892) 53 Pilat wesching his handis of ye deid of Chryst.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 62 I entend to spend my breath no longer upon them, but to wash my hands quite of the busines.
1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour ii. i. 11 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.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. iv. 253 He said, he should wash his hands before all the world from the least imputation of slackness.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. iii. 165 ‘Then I wash my Hands of you,’ cries the Doctor. View more context for this quotation
1766 Walpole Let. Lady Coke 3 Mar. Politics, of which I washed my hands for ever when I came away.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House vi. 53 He had entirely washed his hands of the difficulty, and it had become ours.
1887 ‘E. Lyall’ Knight-errant I. iv. 65 You are incorrigible. I wash my hands of you.
f. The expression ‘I will wash my hands in innocency’ (Psalm xxvi. 6) is echoed in the following passage, where the meaning is ‘to lead a life of heedless ease’.
ΚΠ
1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 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. Shakespeare Macbeth v. i. 33).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > touching > touching with the hand > touch or feel with the hand [verb (intransitive)] > touch or handle idly or restlessly
finger1546
to wash one's hands1570
fibulate1640
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1664/1 Rogers..was burned into ashes, washing hys handes in ye flame as he was in burning.
1840 T. Hood Miss Kilmansegg i, in New Monthly Mag. 60 89 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash one's body or part of it [verb (transitive)] > of an animal
wash1661
1661 M. Stevenson Twelve Moneths 27 The Hare in a Furrow sits washing her face.
1792 R. Burns in J. Johnson Scots Musical Museum IV. 389 Auld baudrans by the ingle sits, An' wi' her loof her face a washin'.
1858 H. W. Dulcken Picture Fables 89 Why do you wash yourself, Pussy?
i. reflexive. To cleanse one's body, or (often) merely one's face and hands, with water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash oneself [verb (reflexive)]
washc1175
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 73 Wascheð ou and wonieð clene.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 47 As ha wesch hire.
c1250 Kent. Serm. in Old Eng. Misc. 29, vi. Ydres of stone þet ware i-clepede baþieres wer þo gius hem wesse for clenesse.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 202 Elyseu þe profete het to naaman þet wes mezel þet he him wesse ine þe flom Jordan zeueziþe.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 254 Into his bath he wente anon And wyssh him clene as eny bon.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 468 That no man schulde take mete, but that he anoon bifore waischid him.
1596 in J. Stuart Misc. Spalding Club (1841) I. 86 Eftir thei hed anes waschin tham selffis and dryit agane.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. iv. 142 They wash themselues in a Lauotoio.
1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xxxv. 2) 278 We wash us every day; but, when to dine with great ones, we wash us with balls, and put on our best.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 94. ¶8 He threw off his Cloaths with a Design to wash himself.
1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid ii, in tr. Virgil in Eng. Verse 142 Until I wash me again Clean in the running fountain.
j. intransitive for reflexive (= to wash oneself, one's hands, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash oneself [verb (intransitive)]
washc1175
ablute1791
douche1843
souse1895
to wash up1934
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 159 Þos fure kunnes teres boð þe fuwer wateres þa þe beoð ihaten us on to weschen.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 541 Þe king no seyd no more, Bot wesche and ȝede to mete.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2997 Whan þei samen hade souped & seþþe whasche after.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xiii. 28 Þei wesshen [v.r. wasscheden] and wypeden and wenten to þe dyner.
1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur i. x. 49 Anon as they had wasshen & rysen.
?a1562 G. Cavendish Life Wolsey (1959) 116 I woll not presume, to wasshe wt you, And therfore I pray you hold me excused, than was my lord Cardynall constrayned to washe alone, And my lord of Norffolk all alon also.
1605 P. Erondelle French Garden L 4 b Come, wash with my Lady and me, We may wash well foure in a Basen.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. i. 140 Come Kate and wash, & welcome heartily. View more context for this quotation
1694 E. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 18) i. iii. 410 No Earl is to wash with a Duke without the Dukes Permission.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 10 Mar. (1965) I. 384 These serv'd her Coffée kneeling, brought water when she wash'd, etc.
1770 G. White Let. 8 Oct. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 133 As far as I can observe, many birds that dust themselves never wash.
1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward II. i. 5 And now wash speedily..and follow me.
1854 Poultry Chron. 1 49 Here the birds can wash.
k. To cleanse, rinse, drench (the mouth, etc.) with a douche or medicinal application. Also with out.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatments removing or dispersing matter > remove or disperse [verb (transitive)] > rinse with douche, antiseptic, etc.
wash1538
antiseptize1878
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash one's body or part of it [verb (transitive)] > douche
wash1538
douche1772
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Gargarisso, to gargaryshe or washe the mouthe and throte of a man.
?1550 H. Llwyd tr. Pope John XXI Treasury of Healthe sig. C.vi Then let ye pacyent fastyng hold this bage in his mouth & chaw it betwixt hys teeth, & after washe his mouth wyth warme wyne and Hony.
1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. I. 77 The Colonel..began to wash out his mouth.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 583 Antral and attic cavities washed out with strong antiseptic solution.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrament > baptism > baptize [verb (transitive)]
fulloweOE
ChristeOE
dipc975
fulghtOE
fulghtenlOE
baptize1297
washa1300
christen1340
underfo1362
superfuse1657
a1300 Cursor Mundi 23686 Waters þat wete þan cristes flexs, and in batism his santes wexs.
1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng 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.
c1380 J. Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 72 Joon hadde office of God to se Crist, and waishe him.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 188 b/2 He baptysed our lord and wysshe hym where he had neuer fylthe.
1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) ii. 123 All that ar wasshed in the floude of baptym.
a1557 J. Cheke tr. Gospel St. Matthew (1843) xx. 22 Can ie..be wasched with yt wasching yt I schal be wasched withal.
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. ii To Wash. Belaue, Baptize.
1653 R. Carpenter (title) The Anabaptist washt and washt, and shrunk in the washing.
m. figurative. To cleanse from the stain of sin. Const. from, †of.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > salvation, redemption > save, redeem [verb (transitive)]
aleseOE
abyeOE
buyc1175
washc1175
winc1220
salvea1225
savec1225
forbuyc1315
ransomc1350
signc1350
again-buya1382
forechoosea1400
gain-buy1435
redeemc1438
pre-elect1561
sa'1604
electa1617
unsina1631
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 157 Swiche teres scedde M. Magdalene þa heo wosch ure drihtenes fet and heo werð hire solf waschen of hire fule sunnen.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 112 Þe herte þet is..yclensed and ywesse be zoþe ssrifte.
a1350 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 201 Of blod & water þe stremes be, vs to whosshe from oure fon þre.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Rev. i. 5 The which..waschide [v.r. wesh] us fro oure synnes in his blood.
1430–40 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes (1558) viii. xiii. 8 As man most sinful I come vnto the well..For to be washen of mine iniquity.
a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 23 Christ woushe us with his blood.
c1650 H. Binning Serm. in Wks. (1735) 566 We are washen from the Guilt of our Sins.
1709 I. Watts Hymns & Spiritual Songs (ed. 2) i. 83 But we are wash'd in Jesus Blood, We're pardon'd thro' his Name.
1874 Sankey's Sacred Songs (1878) 45 Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > justification > justify [verb (transitive)] > exculpate
cleansea1000
skere?c1225
unwreea1250
spurge1303
sunyiea1325
disblamec1374
quita1400
whitena1400
emplasterc1405
declare1460
clear1481
absolve1496
purgea1530
free1560
clenge1592
disculp1602
uncharge1604
exonerate1655
exculpate1656
wash1659
excriminate1661
to wipe the mouth of1687
disculpate1693
whitewash1703
rehabilitate1847
1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 405 Major-general Kelsey laboured to wash him.
o. to wash up: = sense 3j. U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash oneself [verb (intransitive)]
washc1175
ablute1791
douche1843
souse1895
to wash up1934
1934 in Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang.
1935 N. Marsh & H. Jellett Nursing-home Murder iii. 42 Thoms came into the [operating] theatre. ‘We ought to get washed up, sir,’ he said.
1947 J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus 214 A neatness of a mechanic who has just washed up.
1967 L. Block Deadly Honeymoon ii. 26 Wash up and change your clothes.
1979 R. 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’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > [verb (intransitive)]
to do one's business1596
to pluck a rose1613
to pay a call1648
to go backward1748
go1804
to do (one's) duty1935
to wash one's hands1938
to spend a penny1945
perform1963
1938 I. Goldberg Wonder of Words vi. 108 We are invited to wash our hands, or, if we wear dresses, to powder our noses.
1953 R. 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?’
1966 G. Greene Comedians i. iii. 84 He was out ‘washing his hands’, as he put it in polite English.
1974 J. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > action of flushing or swilling > flush or swill [verb (transitive)] > in order to remove or dissolve out a component
washa1650
a1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (Tanner 326) (1919) 17 Then take the remayning grounds and wash them as before.
1651 J. French Art Distillation iii. 71 This Oil must be washed in good store of water.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 407 By washing the residuum, a portion of it dissolves in the water.
1849 D. Campbell Pract. Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 303 This crust, washed with anhydrous alcohol, breaks up into small crystals.
1853 S. 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.
1857 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. III. 56 By washing the distilled liquid with water, the acetone may, therefore, be removed.
1874 F. Clowes Elem. Treat. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > erosion or weathering > erode [verb (transitive)] > erosion by water
undermine1398
wash?1523
gall1577
nip1897
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)] > rinse
sinda1350
spoil1480
rinsec1500
slouse1726
sluice1755
sozzle1845
slush1854
to wash out1876
sloush1889
wash1894
slooshy1907
sloosh1912
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xv All ye rayne yt cometh shall wasshe the lande & dryue away the dong & the good molde.
1801 Farmer'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.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 399 Taking the water off without washing the land.
1817 Ld. Byron Manfred i. ii. 124 A pathway, which the torrent Hath wash'd since winter.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. viii. 263 The glacier..is flanked by mountains which are washed by rain.
1894 S. R. Crockett Raiders 13 The moon..of early April, clean washen by the rains.
1897 J. 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.† 8. To sweat (gold or silver coin) by the application of acids. Obsolete.Distinct from the ‘washing’ of coin forbidden in 19th-century statutes: see 9c.
5. † d. intransitive for reflexive. To use cosmetic washes. Obsolete.
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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > action or process of immersing or dipping > immerse or dip [verb (transitive)] > the body, face, etc.
washc1175
steep1579
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 83 He weis his wunde mid wine.
1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. VIII. 235 Þan he wesche [v.rr. weesche, wuesch] þe woundes of þe ymage of the crucifixe.
c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 199 Þanne waische þe lyme wiþ a decoccioun of malowis & violet & rotis of bismalue in watir.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 109 Wyse maistres and surgyens,..bonde them and weeshe hem [sc. the wounds].
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) viii. l. 787 The wery ost..Wysche woundis with wyn off thaim that was wnsound.
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 354 After this my rubbing and being washt with Salt and Vineger.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §998 The Wound must be at first Washed cleane, with White Wine.
1686–7 in Spalding Club Misc. V. 237 He saw Alex. Chalmer, his hand blooding, after it was washen, being hurt.
1809 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 21 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, clear. †Also transferred (jocularly), to clear or sharpen the sight of (the eyes) with strong drink (cf. next).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatments of specific parts > treat specific parts [verb (transitive)] > remove dimness from eyes > bathe the eyes
washc1200
c1200 Vices & Virtues 125 Wassce and wipe wol clane ða eiȝene, for ðan soð is ðat hie ðe siggen.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 13571 Ga wasse þin eien þar.
c1420 Chron. 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.
1826 W. Scott Woodstock III. xiv. 365 His eyes washed with only a single cup of canary.
1831 W. Scott Castle Dangerous ii, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. III. 259 Thou shalt have no cause to complain that thine eyes..have been damaged by a Scottish mist, while we can find an English piece of money 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > [verb (transitive)] > slake thirst > moisten with liquor or wine
wash1390
moist1530
liquefy1826
the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > [verb (intransitive)] > drink intoxicating liquor > drink wine
to wash one's brain, head1589
port1825
wine1829
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis 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.
1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus ii. i. sig. Hijv My teth be al to furrid with flakes of skurfe (sticking vpon them syns I washed them with any merye go downe).
1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Diiii He that washeth his braines with diuers kinds of wines, is the next doore to a drunken man.
1590 T. Lodge Rosalynde (1592) F 3 Washing their heades well with wine.
1600 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor v. iii. sig. Piii I'le wash my temples with some on't presently, and drinke some halfe a score draughts. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. vii. 94.
a1625 J. Fletcher Loyal Subj. iv. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Fff2v/1 Beleeve me fellow here will be lusty drinking. Many a washt pate in wine I warrant thee.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > beautify the skin or complexion [verb (intransitive)] > cleanse or moisturize
wash1676
moisturize1945
1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. i. 22 Young Ladies, Who notoriously wash, and paint, though they Have naturally good Complexions.
1693 T. Southerne Maids Last Prayer ii. i I may Wash, and Patch, and please my self.
6. † b. reflexive. Used for: To bathe. Obsolete (? In later use jocular.)† d. transitive. To dip, plunge, immerse (a thing) in water. Obsolete.
a. To plunge, bathe (a person) in a river or lake.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > action or process of immersing or dipping > immerse or dip [verb (transitive)]
bebatheOE
dipc1000
plungec1380
wash1398
bathec1400
embathe1593
taint1594
immerse1685
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) xiii. xii. 446 In Ethiopia is a lake and yf a body be wassh therin he shinyth as though he were anoynted wyth oyle.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 129 Having washed him in a lake..they cloath him in a white gown.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash oneself [verb (reflexive)] > bathe
washa1382
bathec1400
bain1577
bath1876
a1382 [see sense 6c].
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 414 b/1 The emperour frederyk vysyted the holy londe and wysshe hym in a ryuer.
1511 Pylgrymage Richarde Guylforde (Pynson) f. xxx There we wesshe vs & bayned vs all nakyd in the water of Iordan.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. i. 96 He went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont, and being taken with the crampe, was droun'd. View more context for this quotation
1711 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 195 One Mr. Reynalds..was drown'd by Ferry Hinksey, he being washing himself, but not able to swim.
1775 E. Burke Corr. (1844) II. 38 My brother is washing himself at Brighthelmstone.
c. intransitive for reflexive. To bathe. Obsolete except of animals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > action or process of immersing or dipping > immerse or dip [verb (intransitive)]
bathec1200
washa1382
dipa1387
bask1393
swelter1595
laver1607
dap1886
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > wash oneself [verb (intransitive)] > bathe
bathec1000
washa1382
bain1483
lave1701
tub1867
bogy1893
tosh1905
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 370) (1850) 4 Kings v. 14 He wente doun, and wasche [a1425 L.V. waischide hym] in Jordane seuen sithis.
1621 J. Taylor Motto E 2 Old Chaucer, Sidney, Spencer, Daniel, Nash, I dipt my finger where they vs'd to wash.
1908 E. Fowler Between Trent & Ancholme 12 The ‘Wire Pond’, where the horses came to wash.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > action or process of immersing or dipping > immerse or dip [verb (transitive)] > in water
washc1374
c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (1886) iv. met. vi. 111 Ne the same sterre vrsa nis neuer mo wasshen in the depe westrene see [L. nunquam occiduo lota profundo].
c1386 G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > war > wage war [verb (intransitive)] > go to war
to take the plainc1380
to go to war or warsc1450
to take the field1482
to go (etc.) on warfare1483
to pass (forth) in warfare1483
field1535
to go out1548
to go to the war(s)1600
to be (also go) on the warpath1841
to wash one's spears1892
1892 H. R. Haggard Nada the Lily v With every moon a fresh impi started to wash its spears, and came back few and thin.
1903 J. Bryce Stud. in 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > condition of being or making very wet > make very wet [verb (transitive)]
drenchc1000
washc1275
drowna1300
drunkena1300
drunka1382
bewetc1400
bedrenchc1450
bucka1513
sowp1513
drooka1522
sousea1542
soaken1577
overdrown1579
soss1587
embay1590
steep1590
overdrencha1592
embathe1593
indrench1593
imbue1594
douse1606
besob1609
bucket1621
sob1625
dash1670
sop1682
saturate1696
float1729
water1754
sodden1812
douche1864
poach1881
tosh1883
sod1895
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 8579 Heo wasceð [c1300 Otho wasseþ] þene stan & þer-mide baðieð heore ban.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 1997 Now es..þe erth waiker þan it was þan, Thoru þe watur þat it sua wex, þer-for behoues now man ete flesse.
c1386 G. Chaucer Monk's Tale 766 Reyn shal thee wasshe, and sonne shal thee drye.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 138 Til that the water of the hevene Have waisshen him be times sevene.
c1400 Laud Troy Bk. 18570 Pirrus.. hewe to gobetis al hir flesch, And with hir blod the tombe wesch.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Isa. xxxiv. B Their londe shalbe washed [1611 soaked] with bloude.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Roresco, to be washed with dewe.
1577 T. Kendall tr. Politianus et al. Flowers of Epigrammes f. 13 A powryng shower that..well the kyng did washe.
1596 Raigne of Edward III sig. E4v He that no sooner will prouide a Cloake, Then when he sees it doth begin to raigne, May peraduenture for his negilgence, Be throughly washed when he suspects it not. View more context for this quotation
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 104 Therefore the Moone (the gouernesse of floods)..washes all the aire. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 173 She lookes as cleere As morning Roses newly washt with dew. View more context for this quotation
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 35 Ever and anon our Sails were wash'd by the Waves.
1724 A. Ramsay Vision in Ever Green I. xxviii Flora..New washen with a showir of May.
1783 W. Cowper Rose 1 The rose had been wash'd, just wash'd in a shower.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake iv. 143 The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew.
b. To wet copiously (with tears).Chiefly in religious use, after Psalm vi. 6 Vulgate, lavabo lectum meum, and with reference to Luke vii. 38.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > condition of being or making very wet > make very wet [verb (transitive)] > with tears
washc1200
bemoat1605
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 65 Swo ich wile biwepe mine synnes þat mi bed bie iwasshen mid mine teares.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 151 He wasseð his neb mid teares.
c1300 Judas 125 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 110 His fet heo wosch wiþ hire teres.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 171 He ssel grat zorȝe habbe..and ofte mid his teares his bed wesse.
c1400 N. Love tr. Bonaventura Mirror Life Christ xlvii And þer wyth of þe habundaunce of teres sche woschsse muche bettere hys heuede.
1450 W. Lomnor in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 35 I..haue soo wesshe this litel bille with sorwfulle terys that [etc.].
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 232 He, a marble to her teares, is washed with them, but relents not. View more context for this quotation
c. With predicative complement: To form in (holes) by the action of dropping or running water. Similarly, to form a hole or depression in (a surface) by erosion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > erosion or weathering > erode [verb (transitive)] > cut channels or holes
gull1577
rout1726
wash1766
scour1773
gully1775
erode1830
gorge1849
ravine1858
ream1859
channel1862
canyon1878
to plough out1886
cañon1889
incise1893
runnel1920
1766 Compl. Farmer at 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.
1911 Concise Oxford Dict. (at cited word) Water had washed a channel.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > mutilating coin > mutilate coin [verb (transitive)]
roundc1400
wash1421
royna1475
clipa1513
rounge1540
diminish1569
scale1576
launder1612
sweat1785
shorten1857
1421–2 T. Hoccleve Min. Poems xxi. 106 How may it [gold coin] holde his peise when it is waishe so that it lackethe somewhat in thiknese?
1543 tr. 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.
a1547 in J. R. Boyle Early Hist. Town & Port of Hedon (1895) App. p. lxxxviii Of them that countrefetes, clypis, washes, or fylis the Kinge's coyne.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxix. 245 To wash or clip that coyne which hath on it the marke of God.
1643 in W. H. Black Docquets 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > coating or covering with a layer > coat or cover with a layer [verb (transitive)] > with liquid
suffuse1590
wash1755
flow1864
1755 Art of Drawing in Perspective 91 When these are dry, wash all over with the white Varnish before the Fire.
1854 M. L. Charlesworth Ministering 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > decorating and painting > decorate [verb (transitive)] > paint > paint with whitewash
white-limec1300
whiten?a1425
whitewash1591
wash1604
1604 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 157 A plasterer,..v days plasteringe and wasshinge in the chambers on the soth syed, ijs jd.
1606 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 172 A plasterer, v days wasshinge the halle and dyninge chamber, ijs vjd.
1722 London Gaz. No. 6103/3 The Walls of the Houses were washed with Water in which Lime had been slaked.
1830 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Weekly Polit. Reg. 27 Mar. 392 The windmills..are all painted or washed white.
c. To cover with a film of metal deposited from a solution.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > work with metal [verb (transitive)] > coat or cover with metal
couch14..
platec1425
bush1566
gild1611
sheathe1615
water1637
tincture1670
laminate1697
wash1792
replate1796
rebush1864
electro1891
metallize1911
1792 Gentleman's Mag. 62 i. 19/1 A chain and medal..is silver washed over with gold.
1853 H. N. Humphreys Coin Collector's Man. II. xxvi. 381 The ten-centime piece of Napoleon..being of copper washed with silver.
1861 Act 24 & 25 Victoria 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. figurative.1861 J. Brown Horæ Subs. 2nd Ser. 249 Such a man as I have sketched, or washed faintly in, as the painters say.
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.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > art of colouring > colour [verb (transitive)] > lay on a colour > wash or wash in
wash1622
1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman xii. 110 Beginne first to wash ouer some plaine printes.
a1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (Tanner 326) (1919) 30 In your dead colourings, you must wash over and colour your ground and complexion, with this red.
a1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (Tanner 326) (1919) 32 Washing the colour with a bold hand.
a1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (Tanner 326) (1919) 50 When you have..sleigtly washt in your skie.
1658 G. Atwell Faithfull Surveyour xv. 53 Arable for corn you may wash with pale straw-colour made of yellow-ocre and white-lead.
1675 A. Browne Ars Pictoria (ed. 2) App. 13 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.
1755 Art 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.
1807 J. Landseer Lect. Engraving iii. 132 A drawing washed with bistre or Indian ink.
1843 J. Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 5 Gaspar..washes his sky half blue and half yellow.
1860 S. Smiles Self-help (new ed.) 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.
1860 J. D. Hooker Bot. Antarctic Voy.: Flora Tasmania II. 372 The scape should be washed over with a pale brown, leaving hardly a trace of green.
1871 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 406 The bushes..may be washed in with Indian yellow.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 396 Copley Fielding taught me to wash colour smoothly in successive tints.
b. transferred in passive. Said in Natural History of surfaces that appear to have a superficial layer of colour spread over them.
ΚΠ
1844 E. Blyth in Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 13 i. 466 The legs and feet..are pale; the hands are washed with blackish.
1888 P. L. Sclater & W. H. Hudson Argentine Ornithol. I. 25 Tail-feathers black, washed with blue.
1894 R. B. Sharpe Hand-bk. Birds Great Brit. I. 25 The intermediate form..differs from the typical bird in having the head and throat washed with purple.
11.
a. Mining. To agitate in water, or to pass a stream of water through (metalliferous earth) in order to separate the metallic particles.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (transitive)] > wash or stream
wash1543
strip1674
stream1778
van1839
1543 in J. R. Walbran Mem. Abbey St. Mary of Fountains (1863) I. 403 For washinge the leade ure at Grenehow morr.
1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. W. Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 177v They washe all the earthe... And if herein they fynde any golde, they folowe it.
c1619 S. Atkinson Discov. Gold Mynes Scotl. (1825) 1 The buddle where the same earth must be reudled or washed.
1853 C. R. Read Austral. Gold Fields 34 In many cases men used to pay other £20 a-week to be allowed to wash their tailings.
1863 B. A. Heywood Vacation 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (intransitive)] > wash or stream
wash1604
1604 G. Bowes in R. W. Cochran-Patrick Early Rec. Mining Scotl. (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.
1850 N. Kingsley Diary 156 They washed this forenoon and got over two ounces amalgam.
c. to wash up: to retrieve (gold) from the riffles, sluices, etc., in which it has collected during washing. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (transitive)] > wash or stream > for gold
rock1825
pan1832
cradle1852
puddle1852
sluice1859
to wash up1869
yandy1937
to rock out1966
1869 J. Anderson Sawney's Lett. (ed. 2) 27 Now say, what have you ‘wash'd up’? Small wages.
1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xi. 142 After some months' hard work, we would wash up, and my mate would go off to sell the gold.
1900 B. 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. in extended use.1902 R. Kipling Five Nations (1903) 64 The granite of the ancient North—Great spaces washed with sun.in extended use.1920 In 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.
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).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > [verb (transitive)] > surround or touch (of water)
washc1275
watera1450
bathe1591
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > cause to flow [verb (transitive)] > against land
washc1275
lave1623
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > action of river > [verb (transitive)] > pass through (a country)
wash1591
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 63 I þere Tyure he eode alond þer þa sea wasceð þat sond.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Subluere, to vnder~washe, as water, whyche runneth lowe vnder a banke or hylle, and washeth the foote thereof.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. xii. 47 The two sides are washed by the sea.
1591 E. Spenser tr. J. du Bellay Visions in Complaints 158 The golden grayle That bright Pactolus washeth with his streames.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis viii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 436 In Times to come, My Waves shall wash the Walls of mighty Rome.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 329 They seldom stretch into Rivers at length, but stagnate in the Low Grounds, which they wash.
1700 H. Chauncy Hist. Antiq. Herts. 3 The Bulborne..washing the North East side of Barkhamsted.
1814 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Vision III. viii. 69 The crown, Which gave me sovereignty over the land By Danube wash'd.
1839 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece VI. xlix. 168 The waves washed the foot of the cliffs.
1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain II. vi. 109 A small village, washed by the brook.
1877 T. H. Huxley Physiography 45 The British Isles, washed by warm water on their western shores, are peculiarly subject to fogs.
b. intransitive. Of waves: To sweep over a surface; to break or surge against (the shore, etc.); to break in.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > wave > movement of waves > move restlessly about [verb (intransitive)] > sweep over or strike against a surface
wash1774
lasha1851
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 284 The tides,..constantly washing over them, have always left some part of their substance behind.
1831 G. P. R. James Philip 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.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule viii. 126 The tiny waves that washed in on the white shore.
1885 J. A. Froude Oceana xvi. 243 The lightest ripple washed over the gunwale.
c. Used by onomatopœia to suggest the sound of moving water, or of objects moving in water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of water > make sound of or like water [verb (intransitive)] > sound of water in motion
wash1842
swabble1848
1842 Ld. Tennyson Morte d'Arthur in Poems (new ed.) II. 7 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.
1891 Cent. 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. transitive. To remove (dirt, a stain, colouring, etc.) by the application of water or other liquid. Chiefly with adverb, as away, out, off.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > wash [verb (transitive)] > remove (dirt or stain) by washing
clearc1340
washc1450
c1450 Mirk's Festial 90 Then was þys woman agrysed of þe blod, and wold haue weschyn hit away.
c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn Prol. l. 661 Yet, or he cam in company, he wissh a-wey the blood.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid ix. (last line) All blude and slauchtyr away was weschyn clene.
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 32 Bay berries..weish out frekles.
1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades iv. 66 After he had beheld the stroke, and washte away the bloud.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. ii. 58 Will all great Neptunes Ocean wash this blood Cleane from my Hand? View more context for this quotation
1663 S. Patrick Parable of Pilgrim (1687) xxxv. 437 Would you not have us pull off the Mask or wash off the paint, that we may shew things in their proper colours?
1681 P. Bellon tr. F. de Monginot New Myst. Physick Introd. 45 The Volatil Salt..is to be washed off with the said Water.
1755 Art of Drawing in Perspective 91 Then wash off the Tripoli with a soft Sponge and Water.
1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. xxiv. 620 Agitate it [the gas] with water to wash out the sulphurous acid.
1831 G. P. R. James Philip Augustus xxxiv Though the blood of his nephew was scarce washed from his hands.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 868 Washing discharge away with sublimate solution.
b. figurative.Very common in reference to sin, etc. regarded as a stain or defilement. In early use often without adverb.
ΚΠ
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 240 Vch god word vch god werch wescheð smele sunnen.
a1240 Ureisun in Old Eng. Hom. I. 189 As wis ase drope of þi deorwurþe blod mahte waschen a-wai alle folkes fulþe.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 1594 God..thoght a neu wengaunce to sent,..And waass þat wrang, þat was sa rijf.
1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng 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.
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme li. 5 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 49 O clense [MSS B, K, χ; MS A: clense], o wash, my fowle iniquitie.
1664 in G. Miege Relation of Three Embassies (1669) 169 His subjects..have with their ancient loyalty washed out the staines of the late Rebellion.
1709 M. Prior Henry & Emma 313 Nor Tears, that wash out Sin, can wash out Shame.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxxi. 238 The ignominious lashes, which they had formerly received, were washed away in the blood of the guilty, or obnoxious, families.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xii. 130 This merit was thought sufficient to wash out even the stain of his Saxon extraction.
1880 Ld. Acton Lett. to M. Gladstone (1904) 38 The Republican party..had a good deal of dirty work to wash off.
c. transferred and figurative. To blot out, obliterate, cancel.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > memory > effacement, obliteration > efface, obliterate [verb (transitive)]
dilghec897
scrape1303
washc1380
fade1398
razea1425
out-razec1425
racec1450
enrasea1492
stramp1535
wipe1535
facec1540
cancel1559
outblot1573
to wash out1580
to blur out1581
obliterate1607
efface1611
dislimna1616
excerebrate1621
demark1655
rufflea1680
erase1695
scrub1828
overscore1834
elide1846
trash1859
to wipe (off) the slate1921
c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 289 Ȝif chartris of men ben contrarie to goddis lawe, þes chartres schulde be wayschen and goddis lawe schulde stonde.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 703 The brotherly loue betwene them, washed away and diminished all suspicion.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft v. ii. 93 Bodin washeth away all our arguments with one word.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 236 Now of these three causes before specified, the first doth not wash away envie.
d. intransitive with out. Of colouring matter: To disappear from a fabric when washed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > colouring > dyeing > [verb (intransitive)] > wash out
wash1755
1755 in 6th Rep. Deputy Keeper Rec. App. ii. 128 A certain Liquid Composition..which..will neither Wash Out, Fade, or Tarnish.
1972 J. 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 (transitive):
(a) to obliterate, cancel, remove.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > memory > effacement, obliteration > efface, obliterate [verb (transitive)]
dilghec897
scrape1303
washc1380
fade1398
razea1425
out-razec1425
racec1450
enrasea1492
stramp1535
wipe1535
facec1540
cancel1559
outblot1573
to wash out1580
to blur out1581
obliterate1607
efface1611
dislimna1616
excerebrate1621
demark1655
rufflea1680
erase1695
scrub1828
overscore1834
elide1846
trash1859
to wipe (off) the slate1921
1580 H. F. tr. S. Pelegromius Synonymorum Sylua 70/2 To Crosse or Cancell out, or to wash out writinges.
1616 Withals' Dict. 563 Lutum luto purgare. To wash out incke with incke.
1763 H. Spens tr. Plato Republic 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.
1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxvi. 217 This Wilford is a noted duellist, and no doubt thirsts to wash out the insult he has received in blood.
1859 E. FitzGerald tr. Rubáiyát Omar Khayyám li. 11 Nor [shall] all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
1932 R. 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.
1983 Sci. Amer. Feb. 86/3 Coronal structure hinted at in ordinary photographs is largely washed out by overexposure of the bright inner corona.
(b) colloquial. To call off (an event), esp. because of bad weather; to eliminate (a possible course of action). Usually passive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > memory > effacement, obliteration > cancellation, revocation > annul, cancel, revoke [verb (transitive)] > event, commitment
to call off1900
to wash out1917
1917 A. S. 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.
1933 P. MacDonald Myst. 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.
1964 Mrs. 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.
1977 Belfast 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.
(c) 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. Usually passive.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > educational administration > [verb (transitive)] > withdraw from a course
to wash out1918
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > kill [verb (transitive)] > by crashing
to wash out1918
society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > specific flying operations or procedures > [verb (transitive)] > land > crash-land
pile1891
crash1915
to wash out1918
prang1941
1918 J. 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.
1927 C. 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.
1928 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 72 That Kiwi washed out the only peppy crate in the outfit.
1942 F. H. Joseph Lett. home from Brit. at War 16 Three planes were washed out completely, others damaged.
1943 Yank 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.
1979 M. 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 figurative object. Also rarely to wash over.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > [verb (transitive)] > wash down food
to wash down1600
water1630
rinse1631
wet1878
1600 A. Munday et al. First Pt. True Hist. Sir I. Old-castle sig. I4v In this one draught I wash my sorrow downe.
1649 R. Lovelace Being treated, To Ellinda 4 Flutes of Canary That well did wash downe pasties-mary.
1744 M. Bishop Life Matthew Bishop 193 I had three plentiful Meals, and some good Liquors to wash it down.
1843 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross I. ii. 26 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.
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxxviii. 380 This profound reflection Mr. Toodle washed down with a pint mug of tea.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour 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 adverbs away, down, off, out, up, etc., or const. from, into, out of, etc. Also, to form or hollow out. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > cause to flow [verb (transitive)] > carry (away) by flowing
wash1362
ravisha1500
float1606
horse1698
swill1850
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. x. 163 Til Fourti dawes ben folfuld þat þe flod haue I-wassche Clene awey þe cursede blod þat Caym haþ I-maket.
a1500 Bernardus, etc. iii. 82 He walde þat A watter, or a well, hayd wecht it away.
1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. W. Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 178 The water wassheth the earth..owte of the trais.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. v. 70 I thinke thoult wash him from his graue with teares. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) v. iv. 31 Bestride the Rock, the Tyde will wash you off. View more context for this quotation
1622 J. Taylor Very Merry Wherry-Ferry Voy. in Wks. (1769) ii. 10/2 The raging Sea..euery day..eateth further in, Still..wasting, washing downe the sand doth win.
c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1850) I. 81 Wateris and burnes flowit wp over bank over bray, corne milnes and milne houssis waschin doun [etc.].
1674 R. Head Jackson's Recantation sig. A2 A Clod of Earth, which..the least shower of Rheums [can] wash away to nothing.
1709 T. Robinson Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmorland & Cumberland xiv. 81 Violent Currents of Water wash off the outer Coat of the Earth, and leave the Vein naked.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 180 That the Rain-water may spread equally, and not wash down the Ground.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iii. 152 Several pieces of beef..had been washed out of the wreck.
1842 C. Dickens Amer. Notes II. iii. 80 The river has washed away its banks.
1858 E. J. Trelawny Rec. Shelley, Byron 120 The other body was washed on shore three miles distant from Shelley's.
1883 Manch. Guard. 18 Oct. 4/7 The bodies of five seamen have been washed ashore.
1922 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Sept. 613/3 The Thames washed out a new course through a belt of soft clays.
1929 Times 30 Oct. 14/1 Trans-America, which closed last night at 61/ 2, 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.
ΚΠ
1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. W. Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 177v These mynes..owght euer to bee soughte nere to sum ryuer..to thende that the golde maye bee wasshed.
1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 117 A peculiar way of washing out very small Dust-gold.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. v. 50 The washing the gold..from the sand and dirt, with which it is always mixed.
1920 Conquest 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (transitive)] > drive away > repel > something impinging or advancing
repercuss?a1425
repulse?a1425
reverberatec1487
rebut1490
repel?1529
rebuff1697
wash1697
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis vii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 424 His solid sides Wash off the Sea-weeds, and the sounding Tides.
d. intransitive. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > flow [verb (intransitive)] > be carried away by flowing water
washc1590
wash1815
c1590 C. Marlowe Jew of Malta i. ii. 451 Who..Thinke me to be a senselesse lumpe of clay That will with euery water wash to dirt.
1653 I. Walton Compl. 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. View more context for this quotation
1709 T. Robinson Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmorland & Cumberland vii. 47 Whose Soil, by great Rains and Floods, washeth down into the Vallies.
1789 W. 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.
1821 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 17 Nov. 1190 It [sc. the soil] has great tenacity; does not wash away like sand, or light loam.
1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. 87 The loose and friable nature of this soil, which renders it so liable to ‘wash’.
1859 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1857–8 3 452 Our black soil is several feet in depth, and not rolling enough to wash to any considerable extent.
1884 A. E. Sweet & J. A. Knox On Mexican Mustang through Texas ix. 119 On sloping ground, where the soil is light, the roads wash in wet weather, forming ravines.
16. To be tossed about, to be carried or driven along, by waves or stream. Also with up, ashore, etc. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving with current of air or water > movement in or on water > move in or on water [verb (intransitive)] > be carried (away) by current or tide
fleetc897
to-fleeta1122
wash1623
roll1665
tide1896
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > flow [verb (intransitive)] > be carried away by flowing water
washc1590
wash1815
1623 J. Taylor New Discouery by Sea A 5 These sands so shallow In which thou seest our ship thus wash and wallow.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 22 Four or five dead Bodies at a time..washing about the Decks.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 154 Our Bedding was..left washing in the Break of The Sea.
1815 Ann. Reg., Chron. 83 The vessel struck on the ground..and afterwards washed up against the piles on the west side.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. v. ix. 339 War-minister Narbonne is washed away by the Time-flood; poor Chevalier de Grave, chosen by the Court, is fast washing away.
1880 Times 17 Dec. 5/6 The Adolph..is reported..to be total wreck. Cargo washing ashore.
1907 Daily Chron. 26 Sept. 6/5 I was glad to lay hold of a spar that washed by me.
1947 G. Greene 19 Stories 74 And so he'd washed up here, under my eyes, sitting all day under the band~stand.
17. Rowing.
a. transitive. To steer so as to impede (a competitor) by the ‘wash’ of one's own boat.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > boat racing or race > race boats [verb (transitive)] > row a race > actions in rowing race
bump1826
wash1865
overbump1900
overrate1960
1865 Field 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.
1872 Field 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. intransitive in phrase to wash out, to fail to lift out the blade of the oar squarely at the finish of the stroke.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > propelling boat by oars, paddle, or pole > [verb (intransitive)] > row > row in specific manner or style
sheave1611
to pull away1676
paddle1697
to stretch one's oars1697
to stretch to the oar (or stroke)1697
to row dry1769
to stretch out1836
screw1866
bucket1869
to pull one's weight1878
sky1881
to wash out1884
1884 St. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > man-killing or homicide > murder or assassination > murder or assassinate [verb (transitive)]
amurderOE
murderc1175
homicidec1470
murdresc1480
murtrish1490
manquell1548
slaughter1582
massacre1591
assassinate1600
remove1609
assassin1620
to do the business for a person1759
Septembrize1794
croak1823
square1888
shift1898
to take out1900
to bump off1907
bump1914
to do in1914
to put out1917
to knock off1919
terminate1920
to give (a person) the works1929
scrag1930
snuff1932
wash1941
waste1964
wipe1968
to terminate with extreme prejudice1969
neutralize1970
snuff1973
stiff1974
1941 in B. A. Botkin Treasury 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.’
1979 P. Hill Washermen xxiv. 54 They had broken the code... The Washermen must be washed.
V. In Mechanics.
19. Mechanics. transitive. to wash off, to cut to a slope or bevel. to wash down (see quot. 1909).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > incline [verb (transitive)] > bevel
cant1542
splay1598
chamfret1611
cipher1674
bevel1678
bezel1680
chamfer1688
champer1788
scarf1831
to wash off1833
splay1879
society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > perform general or industrial manufacturing processes [verb (transitive)] > sharpen or put edge on
whetc897
strokec1400
set1461
filour1483
sharpen1530
to wash down1909
1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §1117 The sole for the [window-] frame..to be washed off (sloped) on the outside to carry off the rain.
1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. To wash down, Mech., to work to a thin edge or featheredge. Scot.
VI. In extended use: to subject to a procedure regarded as comparable to washing.
20. slang.
a. Printing. To punish or ‘rag’ (a fellow-workman for telling falsehoods) by hammering on his desk. Cf. washing n. 5a.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > public or popular punishments > [verb (transitive)] > hammer on desk (of colleague)
wash1841
1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 810.
b. Stockbroking. To subject (stock) to a ‘wash’: see wash n. 20. [Perhaps originally with allusion to the phrase ‘one hand washes the other’ (see sense 3d).]
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (transitive)] > specific operations
subscribe1618
to take up1655
to sell out1721
to take in1721
to take up1740
pool?1780
capitalize1797
put1814
feed1818
to vote (the) stock (or shares)1819
corner1836
to sell short1852
promote1853
recapitalize1856
refund1857
float1865
water1865
margin1870
unload1870
acquire1877
maintain1881
syndicate1882
scalp1886
pyramid1888
underwrite1889
oversubscribe1891
joint-stock1894
wash1895
write1908
mark1911
split1927
marry1931
stag1935
unwind1958
short1959
preplace1966
unitize1970
bed and breakfast1974
index-link1974
warehouse1977
daisy-chain1979
strip1981
greenmail1984
pull1986
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II.
1903 S. 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. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [verb (transitive)] > other money-dealing operations
to part stakes (also shares)1553
marshal1771
float1872
squeeze1885
hedge1909
block1932
to lock in1950
divest1962
reintermediate1971
launder1973
wash1973
1973 Black 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.
1977 B. Freemantle Charlie Muffin xii. 127 We must wash the money... If that money isn't broken down, Kalenin..just won't cross.
1981 R. Thomas Mordida Man xxvii. 237 What was their payoff for washing the money?
Compounds
C1. The verb-stem in combination.
a. Combinations of wash- + object, ‘(some one or something) that washes’, as wash-dish n. 1, wash-hand adj., wash-mouth n.
b. Originally U.S. 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 adjective. Cf. washing adj.
ΚΠ
1888 Boston (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.
1902 E. Banks Autobiogr. 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 A. Rives World's-end (ed. 6) xii A soft gown of white wash-silk fell in straight folds to her feet.
1941 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 3 July 10/7 (advt.) Mens & boys swim trunks, wash pants, slack suits, sport shirts, etc.
1972 J. Maryland in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out 210 Red and grown out of wash pants and levis to Oleg Cassini imported mohair suits.
c. In mining terms, denoting material from which metal is to be obtained by washing.† wash-ore n. Lead-mining Obsolete ore ready for washing.
wash-gravel n. = wash-dirt n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [noun] > auriferous gravel
alluvial1818
placer1829
gravel1849
washing-stuff1853
pay gravel1857
wash-gravel1860
wash-dirt1862
the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > suitable for washing
wash-ore1653
wash-gravel1860
wash-dirt1862
washa1875
1860 in 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.
1891 Cent. Dict. Wash-gravel. Wash-stuff.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > suitable for washing
wash-ore1653
wash-gravel1860
wash-dirt1862
washa1875
1653 E. Manlove Liberties & Customes Lead-mines Derby 270 Stringes of oar, Wash-oar, and Pumps.
C2. (Not all clearly distinguishable from the Combinations listed in wash n. Compounds 1.) Attributive combinations of wash- (often synonymous with parallel combinations of washing n.).
a. Denoting things or places used for washing, or persons employed in washing clothes.
wash-boy n.
ΚΠ
1900 Wide 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.
wash-cloth n.
wash-jug n.
ΚΠ
1927 W. de la Mare Stuff & Nonsense 54 It galloped up bolsters and wash-jugs and chairs.
1946 S. Spender European Witness ii. 18 A large enamel wash-jug.
wash-place n.
ΚΠ
1774 J. Woodforde Diary 15 Oct. (1924) I. 141 I caught a remarkable large Spider in my Wash Place.
1889 J. J. Welch 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.
wash-rag n. now U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > [noun] > washing-cloth or leather
washen leatherc1425
wash-leather1681
shammy-leather1714
washing-leather1784
wash-rag1890
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > washing the hands > vessel for washing the hands (and face) > face-cloth
face cloth1584
wash-rag1890
face flannel1898
flannel1906
wash-cloth1915
washer1951
oshibori1956
1890 E. L. Bynner Begum's Daughter iv She employed the interval while her guests were at their luncheon in plying the wash-rag and comb.
1899 B. C. Hirst Text-bk. Obstetr. v. ii. 677 Scrubbing the genital region most thoroughly with soap, hot water, and a soft bristle brush or a wash-rag.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby ii. 27 ‘It's more of an Airedale.’ He passed his hand over the brown washrag of a back.
1964 S. Bellow Herzog 257 He got into her ears with the washrag as she screamed, cleaned off her face, the nostrils, wiped her mouth.
1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) v. 192 Her momma's a washrag and her daddy's a redneck.
wash-solution n.
ΚΠ
1849 D. Campbell Pract. Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 18 The solution to wash the gas... The small tube passes down into the wash solution.
wash-tray n.
ΚΠ
1909 ‘Q’ True Tilda xx Two long wash-trays stood ready and steaming.
wash-vessel n.
ΚΠ
1841 S. Clegg Treat. Coal-gas 110 If after condensation ‘dry lime’ is used for purifying, the gas must pass through a wash-vessel.
b. Also in combinations denoting machinery used for washing in various industrial processes.
wash-drill n.
ΚΠ
1907 Contrib. Econ. Geol., U.S. Geol. Surv., Bulletin 648 The borings through the alluvium were made by the ‘wash drill’ or ‘water jet’.
wash-stocks n.
ΚΠ
1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 813/2 [article 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.
wash-wheel n.
ΚΠ
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 417 [article Dyeing] The hydraulic relations refer to the wash-wheels and other similar apparatus.
1897 C. 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’.
C3.
wash-and-wear n. originally U.S. the property of a garment or fabric of being easily washed, drying readily, and needing no ironing; usually attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > other
smalleOE
lightc1230
round1402
side-necked1430
wanton1489
Spanish1530
tucked1530
lustya1555
civil1582
open-breasted1598
full1601
everlasting1607
sheeten1611
nothinga1616
burly1651
pin-up1677
slouching1691
double-breasted1701
negligée1718
translated1727
uniform1746
undress1777
single-breasted1796
unworn1798
mamalone1799
costumic1801
safeguard1822
Tom and Jerry1830
lightweight1837
fancy dress1844
wrap-1845
hen-skin1846
Mary Stuart1846
well-cut1849
mousquetaire1851
empire1852
costumary1853
solid1859
spring weight1869
Henri II1870
western1881
hard-boiled1882
man-of-war1883
Henley1886
demi-season1890
Gretchen1890
toreador1892
crossover1893
French cut1896
drifty1897
boxy1898
Buster Brown1902
Romney1903
modistic1907
Peter Pan1908
classic1909
Fauntleroy1911
baby doll1912
flared1928
flare1929
tuck-in1929
unpressed1932
Edwardian1934
swingy1937
topless1937
wraparound1937
dressed-down1939
cover-up1942
Sun Yat-sen1942
utility1942
non-utility1948
sudsable1951
off-the-shoulder1953
peasant1953
flareless1954
A-line1955
matador1955
stretch1956
wash-and-wear1959
layered1962
Tom Jones1964
Carnaby Street1965
Action Man1966
Mao-style1967
wear-dated1968
thermal1970
bondage1980
swaggery1980
hoochie1990
mitumba1990
kinderwhore1994
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric with specific qualities > [noun] > other
grisette1700
mesh1725
poodle1827
albatross1877
momie1880
velvet-cloth1882
mummy cloth1886
poodle cloth1896
thorn-proof1908
blackout1941
wash-and-wear1959
breathable1961
Pertex1982
1959 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring–Summer 493/1 Wash and wear suits... Launder by hand or washing machine... Machine-dry or drip-dry.
1966 Wall 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.
1981 M. Clark & P. 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.
1981 M. 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.
wash-beetle n. a wooden mallet for beating clothes as part of the process of washing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > implement for beating clothes
battledorec1440
washing-beetlec1440
wash-beetlea1575
batting-staff1611
batlera1616
posser1764
batting-log1798
paddle1884
washing bat1898
a1575 N. Harpsfield Treat. Divorce Henry VIII (1878) (modernized text) 276 One in Kent..all to beat her yokemate with a washbeetle or battledore.
wash-bench n. U.S. a bench on which washing is done.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > surface on which washing is done or beaten
washing-stock1417
washing-block1590
washing-board1810
washing-stone1813
wash-bench1843
slop-stone1882
1843 New Mirror 8 Apr. 4/2 Swapped away for a wash-bench or an ironing-board.
1884 G. W. Cable Dr. Sevier I. xxi. 157 She had reached down and taken from the wash-bench the lump of yellow soap.
1969 N. W. Parsons Upon Sagebrush Harp xxiv. 132 The man was wiping his neck on the roller towel hung above the outdoor washbench.
wash-boiler n. (see quot. 1875).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > vessel for washing clothes in
wash-bowla1529
buck1530
boyne1532
washing-tub1560
wash-tub1602
bucking-tub1615
buck-vat1620
washing-bowl1622
swill1624
possing tub1659
suds-tub1805
bucking-vat1822
bucking-keir1823
peggy tub1823
poss-tub1829
pounding barrel1853
posskit1855
wash-boiler1875
washpot1926
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2726/2 Wash boiler, a domestic boiler for clothes.
1913 G. Stratton-Porter Laddie (1917) vii. 124 While Sarah Hood cooked other things, and made a wash-boiler of coffee.
wash-bottle n. Chemistry (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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > [noun] > washing-bottle
wash-bottle1849
washing-bottle1857
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > removal of impurities from gas or vapour > [noun] > apparatus for
purificator?1813
purifier1834
wash-bottle1849
scrubber1853
washer1853
washing-bottle1857
precipitron1938
1849 D. Campbell Pract. Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 40 This gas..is partially purified by passing through a wash-bottle containing caustic potash or soda.
1912 Nature 19 Dec. 437/2 The experiment succeeds about equally well even when distilled water from a wash-bottle is substituted for powerful reagents.
wash-brush n. a large brush for ‘washing’ or laying on washes of colour.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > brush > types of
pencila1350
calaber pencil1583
washing-brush1585
softener1756
hair-pencil1763
camel('s) hair pencil1771
pound brush1780
dabberc1790
varnishing brush1825
writer1825
red sable1859
sweetener1859
varnish brush1859
fitch1873
sable-brush1873
wash-brush1873
Poona brush1875
hake1882
rigger1883
airbrush1884
liner1886
sable1891
stippler1891
aerograph1898
mop brush1904
filbert brush1950
1873 E. Spon Workshop Receipts 1st Ser. 6/2 To tint large surfaces, a large camel-hair brush is used, termed a Wash-brush.
1901 Macmillan's 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.
wash-cloth n. U.S. a facecloth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > washing the hands > vessel for washing the hands (and face) > face-cloth
face cloth1584
wash-rag1890
face flannel1898
flannel1906
wash-cloth1915
washer1951
oshibori1956
1915 G. Stratton-Porter M. O'Halloran i. 20 The pieces he saved for washcloths.
1949 M. Mead Male & Female xii. 262 A baby's face gently washed with a supersoft wash-cloth.
1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. (Parade Suppl). 14 e/1 (advt.) Bath towel, hand towel & washcloth—all cuddly cotton terry.
wash-deck n. Nautical attributive 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > other nautical operations > [adjective] > relating to washing of deck
wash-deck1878
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [noun] > small vessel > small boat > and fragile
bauble1596
walnut-shell1614
cockleshell1786
wash-deck tub1878
1878 E. Wakeman Log of Anc. 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.
1884 Naval Encycl. 835/1 Wash~deck Gear, the brooms, squilgees, holy-stones, buckets, etc., used in washing decks.
1901 F. T. Bullen Sack of Shakings 98 One morning, at wash-deck time, when I was prowling around forrard [etc.].
1901 F. T. Bullen Sack of Shakings 115 The wash-deck tub was hauled forrard.
1938 ‘C. S. Forester’ Ship of Line i. 22 His captain's admission that he, too, had baths under the washdeck pump.
wash-dyke n. dialect = wash-pool n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > [noun] > sheep washing or dipping > place
wash-dyke1765
wash-pool1827
sheep-dip1865
dip1871
soak-hole1881
dipper1891
1765 Local Act, Road Barton–Riseham, Lincs. 9 Sheep going to or returning from any Wash~dyke.
Thesaurus »
Categories »
wash-gourd n. the loofah (Webster Suppl. 1902), also called washing-, towel-gourd.
wash-kettle n. U.S. a kettle in which water is heated for washing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > kettle for heating washing water
wash-kettle1787
1787 Kentucke Gaz. 24 Nov. 2/3 Samuel Blair, Has for sale..a Quantity of excellent..copper and brass wash kettles.
1883 W. Whitman Specimen Days in Specimen Days & Collect 23 They put wash-kettles on the fire for soup, for coffee.
1973 A. 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.
wash-kitchen n. [= German waschküche] a kitchen used for washing clothes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > place where washing is done
lavendry1377
washing-house14..
bucking-stoke1483
laundry1577
wash-house1577
laundry-house1585
bucking-house1597
wash-yardc1625
lavatory1661
buck-house1738
woman-house1754
wash-kitchen1838
water-shed1859
washery1875
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > room by type of use > [noun] > utility rooms > specific
still1533
stillatory?1600
still-roomc1710
scullery1753
sink-room1823
wash-kitchen1838
wash-up1869
1838 C. 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’ True Tilda xx One for Tilda in the wash-kitchen itself, the other for Arthur Miles in a small outhouse adjoining.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 573 It was the daughter of the mother in the washkitchen that was fostersister to the heir of the house.
wash-line n. chiefly U.S. = washing-line n. at washing n. Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > clothesline
clothesline1702
rope1812
wash-line1890
rotary clothes line1959
1890 K. D. Wiggin Timothy's Quest 48 There's lots of baby-clothes hanging on the wash~lines.
1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden vii. 56 They stole..garments from a wash line.
1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 157 Wash line winders are usually strictly utilitarian objects, without any collector interest.
wash-pan n. U.S. a metal wash bowl; a pan for washing ore.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for treating ores > [noun] > for washing ore
vat1802
wash-pan1851
society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for treating ores > [noun] > for washing ore > for gold
scour1619
rocker1828
cradle1833
pan1835
Long Tom1839
Tom1839
wash-bowl1848
gold washer1849
sluice1851
wash-pan1851
tub1853
gold pan1854
mining pan1858
pan mill1869
Tommy1892
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > washing the hands > vessel for washing the hands (and face)
washela1375
laverc1394
washing-bowl1530
washpot1535
washing-basin1538
cistern1577
lavacre1657
lavatorya1676
chillumchee1715
wash-hand basin1760
wash-dish1805
washbasin1812
wash-bowl1816
chamber set1824
toilet bowl1850
wash-pan1851
lavatory basin1854
wash sink1857
lavatory bowl1872
wash-trough1902
pedestal basin1967
pedestal washbasin1967
vanity basin1972
w.h.b.1975
1851 S. Rutter Hints to Gold Hunters 12 The principal use of the washpan is in rewashing the partially washed stuff taken from the rocker.
1857 J. D. Borthwick Three Years in Calif. 124 A ‘prospecter’ goes with a pick and shovel, and a wash-pan.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxvii. 316 We..scratched around and found an old tin washpan.
1946 G. Wilson Fidelity Folks 175 The tin washpan or the creek was good enough for that.
wash-pen n. Australian and New Zealand the pen into which sheep are driven to await their turn to be washed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > [noun] > sheep washing or dipping > pen for assembly
wash-pen1855
1855 H. Phillips Jrnl. (typescript) 20 John went with him to Wash-pen in afternoon.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer xii Shearers' huts, wash-pens, machinery, and woolshed.
wash-pitcher n. U.S. a ewer for the toilet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > washing the hands > vessel for washing the hands (and face) > pitcher or water-jug
ewer14..
wash-pitcher1852
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin (U.K. ed.) i Eliza had upset the wash-pitcher.
wash sink n. U.S. a sink for washing oneself.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing oneself or body > [noun] > washing the hands > vessel for washing the hands (and face)
washela1375
laverc1394
washing-bowl1530
washpot1535
washing-basin1538
cistern1577
lavacre1657
lavatorya1676
chillumchee1715
wash-hand basin1760
wash-dish1805
washbasin1812
wash-bowl1816
chamber set1824
toilet bowl1850
wash-pan1851
lavatory basin1854
wash sink1857
lavatory bowl1872
wash-trough1902
pedestal basin1967
pedestal washbasin1967
vanity basin1972
w.h.b.1975
1857 Lawrence (Kansas Territory) Republican 2 July 4 ‘Here are all the conveniences for washing,’ said the landlord, stepping to a mahogany wash sink and raising the lid.
1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age xxix. 270 It was a small room..with a wash-sink in one corner.
wash-table n. a table for holding a wash-hand basin and ewer.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > table > [noun] > washing table
Rudd's table1788
wash-hand stand1789
Rudd1793
wash-hand table1863
wash-table1908
1908 Daily Report 28 Aug. 8/2 Although late in the Empire period the square variety of wash-table was sometimes used, it is clear that [etc.].
Draft additions June 2022
Finance (chiefly British). to wash its face: (of an organization, enterprise, asset, etc.) to reach a point when profits are equal to costs, or there is no net gain or loss; to achieve a financially balanced outcome; to break even. Cf. wash n. Additions.
ΚΠ
1946 Hansard Commons 15 May 1959 As regards its financial transactions, it should meet all its liabilities, it should pay its way, wash its face—use what terms you like.
1982 Financial Times (Nexis) 15 Jan. 14 [The company]..contributed £3.7m after financing costs in the year to September and roughly washed its face in cash flow terms.
1993 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 19 Mar. UK imports from Hong Kong stand at pounds 2.5 billion, which means that it is one of the few major trading areas of the world where the UK has been washing its face.
2021 liverpoolecho.co.uk (Nexis) 17 July This property is not going to wash its face, it's actually going to make cash flow which is really important.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.c1440
adj.1548
v.900- to play the hobby-horse
- to play the hobbyhorse
- to play the hop
- to play the jack
- to play the jacks
- to play the knave
- to play the loon
- to play the lord of the manor
- to play the lubber
- to play the man
- to play the merchant with
- to play the mischief
- to play the mischief with
- to play the murphy
- to play the naught
- to play the nought
- to play the numbers
- to play the odd
- to put the etc hand to
- to put the fear of god into
- to put the final hand to
- to put the finger on
- to put the finger on a person
- to put the finishing hand stroke or touch
- to put the finishing hand to