whitewashedadj.
/ˈwʌɪtwɒʃt/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪtˌwɔʃt/, /ˈ(h)waɪtˌwɑʃt/ 1. Covered with make-up or a similar substance intended to make the skin look lighter; cf. whitewash n. 2, whitewash v. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > [adjective] > painted or coloured
painted1485
varnished1553
bepainted1594
plaster-faced1618
superficialized1623
farding1637
fuco'd1652
whitewashed1654
fucused1685
fardeda1763
1654 M. Stevenson Occasions Off-spring 39 Your white-washt cheeks resemble walls.
1830 Westm. Rev. Jan. 186 She..wept til the tears overflowed her white-washed cheeks.
1913 J. R. Scott Unforgiving Offender v. 78 If there is one thing that is disgusting, it is a white-washed face. Let them put it on if they must, but let them rub it off.
1972 M. Miller What Happened xxiv. 227 Her lips, somewhat obscured by the vastness of her whitewashed cheeks, were the color of overripe strawberries.
2004 Sunday Times (Nexis) 19 Sept. (Features section) From whitewashed faces to precision pouts and Edwardian-inspired hair, the new trends in beauty cover a lot of ground.
2. Given or having an appearance of honesty, respectability, rectitude, etc. In early use also: †blameless (obsolete).
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society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > justification > [adjective] > exculpated
sheerc1275
whitewashed1700
exculpate1814
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adjective] > having or given specious appearance
paintedc1390
daubedc1400
cloakeda1500
fucate1531
fucated1535
coloured1537
flim-flam1577
tinsel1595
varnisheda1616
punkish1616
white-limeda1631
pargeted1645
tinselled1651
vizarded1663
lacquered1687
glossy1698
catchpenny1705
catch-shilling1808
tinselly1811
whitewashed1859
shoddy1882
veneered1884
hollowed-out1890
face-lifted1941
suede shoe1952
cosmetic1955
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > excuse > [adjective] > extenuating > extenuated
palliated1840
whitewashed1859
1700 C. Ness Divine Legacy All Mankind iv. 145 Christ is the mystical Raven, that flies away with the infirmities and sins of every watchful, white-washed Christian.
a1799 D. Simpson Plea for Relig. (1803) 159 The white washed officer will..declare..that he trusts he is moved by the Holy Ghost.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. vii. 160 A white-washed jacobite; that is, one who having been long a non-juror,..had lately qualified himself to act as a justice, by taking the oaths to government.
1859 A. Helps Friends in Council New Ser. II. x. 239 The whitewashed triumphs of despotism.
1906 N.Y. Observer 9 Aug. 179/2 The whitewashed Christian is the one whose life conforms to prescriptions and proscriptions which touch only the outside.
1991 P. McGilligan George Cukor vi. 151 The whitewashed account of Cukor's firing given to the press has reigned in chronicles and histories to this day.
3. Covered, coated, or marked with whitewash (whitewash n. 1).
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > painting or coating materials > [adjective] > painted with whitewash
whitedOE
white-limed1440
whitewashed1744
Snowcemmed1969
1744 Trial in Ejectment between Campbell Craig & Earl of Anglesey (Dublin ed.) 121/2 Was there ever a white-wash'd Room?
1770 O. Goldsmith Deserted Village 227 The white-washed wall, the nicely sanded floor.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. xii. 112 A flaring new whitewashed mansion.
1882 W. D. Howells in Longman's Mag. 1 56 To..chase the flying tennis-ball on the whitewashed lawn.
1928 R. A. Knox Footsteps at Lock vi. 55 The walls are very bare and beautifully whitewashed.
2004 L. Desoto Blade of Grass xxxi. 198 They enter the silent streets lined with jacaranda trees that shade the neat, whitewashed houses.
4. Modifying a noun denoting nationality: designating a person who has adopted the behaviour, mannerisms, or attitudes associated with the specified nationality (often implying affectation or superficiality); (also) designating a person who has obtained the specified nationality, esp. only for the sake of convenience. Also in extended use. Chiefly in whitewashed American, whitewashed Yank, whitewashed Yankee. Now historical.
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the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of North America > native or inhabitant of U.S.A. > [noun] > affecting American manners
whitewashed Yankee1753
whitewashed American1926
whitewashed Yank1938
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea II. ii. xxvi. 158 I have heard the Russian merchants occasionally treat us with ridicule, by using a droll expression, which signifies, ‘Are you a white-washed Englishman?’
1855 in Occas. Papers Univ. Sydney Austral. Lang. Res. Centre (1966) No. 10. 26 ‘I have heard people say they would like to see us clear altogether of British rule.’..‘Have you heard that said here?’—‘Yes, by a few of those disaffected persons; very few; they are generally what are termed “white-washed Yankees”.’
1898 A. J. Boyd Shellback 73 He was not one of the low, bullying, half-Irish, half-American sort of men who are called ‘whitewashed Yankees’.
1903 Great Round World 21 Feb. 175/1 The Sultan said: ‘It is said that I am going too fast, that I am a white-washed European and that I dress in European garb.’
1926 W. S. Dill Long Day 147 This particular story concerns a ‘white-washed American’, i.e. a native of Canada who had been naturalized in the United States and then secured repatriation in his own country.
1938 F. A. Worsley First Voy. in Square-rigged Ship 82 Whitewashed Yanks (Europeans who had served a voyage in American ships or spent a short period in the States) were numerous.
1970 J. F. Leavitt Wake of Coasters 62/2 Some of the schooners in later years were ‘white-washed yankees’: American built vessels kept under U.S. registry but with the controlling interest actually owned across the border in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.
2001 R. W. Bailey in J. Algeo Cambr. Hist. Eng. Lang. (2005) VI. xiv. 490 In Australia, as early as 1855, some convicts and former convicts, known locally as white-washed Yankees, were inclined to affect American speech and manners.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1654