Meaning of 'wash' (Webster Dictionary)
- Washy; weak.
- Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash
goods.
- The act of washing; an ablution; a cleansing, wetting, or
dashing with water; hence, a quantity, as of clothes, washed at once.
- A piece of ground washed by the action of a sea or river, or
sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the shallowest part of a
river, or arm of the sea; also, a bog; a marsh; a fen; as, the washes
in Lincolnshire.
- Substances collected and deposited by the action of water;
as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc.
- Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed
dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs.
- The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
- A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in
the West Indies for distillation.
- That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared,
tinted, etc., upon the surface.
- A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.
- A liquid dentifrice.
- A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash.
- A medical preparation in a liquid form for external
application; a lotion.
- A thin coat of color, esp. water color.
- A thin coat of metal laid on anything for beauty or
preservation.
- The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water.
- The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action
of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
- The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a wave;
also, the sound of it.
- Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
- To perform the act of ablution.
- To clean anything by rubbing or dipping it in water; to
perform the business of cleansing clothes, ore, etc., in water.
- To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as,
some calicoes do not wash.
- To be wasted or worn away by the action of water, as by a
running or overflowing stream, or by the dashing of the sea; -- said of
road, a beach, etc.
- To cleanse by ablution, or dipping or rubbing in water; to
apply water or other liquid to for the purpose of cleansing; to scrub
with water, etc., or as with water; as, to wash the hands or body; to
wash garments; to wash sheep or wool; to wash the pavement or floor; to
wash the bark of trees.
- To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and
moisten; hence, to overflow or dash against; as, waves wash the shore.
- To waste or abrade by the force of water in motion; as,
heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.
- To remove by washing to take away by, or as by, the action
of water; to drag or draw off as by the tide; -- often with away, off,
out, etc.; as, to wash dirt from the hands.
- To cover with a thin or watery coat of color; to tint
lightly and thinly.
- To overlay with a thin coat of metal; as, steel washed
with silver.
Meaning of 'wash' (Princeton's WordNet)
Meaning (1):
- any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out
Example in sentence:- at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash
Meaning (2):
- the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water (as from a roadway)
Example in sentence:- from the house they watched the washout of their newly seeded lawn by the water
Meaning (3):
- remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap or some other cleaning agent
Example in sentence:- Can you wash away the spots on the windows?;
- he managed to wash out the stains;
- he washed the dirt from his coat;
- The nurse washed away the blood
Meaning (4):
- be capable of being washed
Meaning (5):
- to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking
Example in sentence:- The cat washes several times a day
Meaning (6):
- make moist
Example in sentence:- The dew moistened the meadows
Meaning (7):
- form by erosion
Example in sentence:- The river washed a ravine into the mountainside
Meaning (8):
- move by or as if by water
Example in sentence:- The swollen river washed away the footbridge
Meaning (9):
- wash or flow against
Example in sentence:- the waves laved the shore
Meaning (10):
- admit to testing or proof
Example in sentence:- This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court
Meaning (11):
- cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water
Definition
[ a.]