Meaning and Origin
What does the name Wash mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
Origin and Meaning of Wash
User Submitted Origins
American
50%
Polish
50%
International Interest
Also see international interest
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
verb Wash
Senses
- 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. "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, . . . he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person." [Matt. xxvii. 24.]
- 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."Fresh-blown roses washed with dew." [Milton.]"The landscape washed with a cold, gray mist." [Longfellow.]
- 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."Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins." [Acts xxii. 16.]"The tide will wash you off." [Shak.]
- 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.
- To cause dephosphorisation of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
- To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, esp. by removing soluble constituents.
Etymology: OE. waschen, AS. wascan; akin to D. wasschen, G. waschen, OHG. wascan, Icel. & Sw. vaska, Dan. vaske, and perhaps to E. water. √150
verb Wash
Senses
- To perform the act of ablution." Wash in Jordan seven times." [2 Kings v. 10.]
- To clean anything by rubbing or dipping it in water; to perform the business of cleansing clothes, ore, etc., in water."She can washand scour." [Shak.]
- To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as, some calicoes do not wash .(Colloq)
- 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 use washes, as for the face or hair.
- To move with a lapping or swashing sound, or the like; to lap; splash; as, to hear the water washing .
- to be accepted as true or valid; to be proven true by subsequent evidence; -- usually used in the negative; as, his alibi won't wash .(informal)
noun Wash
Senses
- 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."The Washof Edmonton so gay." [Cowper.]"These Lincoln washes have devoured them." [Shak.]
- Substances collected and deposited by the action of water; as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc. "The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled." [Mortimer.]
- Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs.
- [Distilling]
- The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
- A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
- The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
- That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared, tinted, etc., upon the surface.Specifically:
- 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.
- [Painting]
A thin coat of color, esp. water color. - A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any object, for beauty or preservation; -- called also washing.
- A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.
- [Naut]
- 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 blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water.
- The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a wave; also, the sound of it.
- Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.(Prov. Eng)
- (Western U. S)[Geol]
- Gravel and other rock débris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium.
- An alluvial cone formed by a stream at the base of a mountain.
- Gravel and other rock débris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium.
- The dry bed of an intermittent stream, sometimes at the bottom of a cañon; as, the Amargosa wash, Diamond wash ; -- called also dry wash.(Western U. S)
- [Arch] The upper surface of a member or material when given a slope to shed water. Hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water, as a carriage wash in a stable.
- an action or situation in which the gains and losses are equal, or closely compensate each other.
- [Aeronautics] the disturbance of the air left behind in the wake of a moving airplane or one of its parts.
adjective Wash
Senses
- Washy; weak.(Obs)"Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper." [Beau. & Fl.]
- Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash goods.(Colloq)
Other Dictionary Sources
- The work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)
- Any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out ("at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash")
- Garments or white goods that can be cleaned by laundering
- A watercolor made by applying a series of monochrome washes one over the other
- A thin coat of water-base paint
- The dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a canyon)
- The flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller
- The erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water (as from a roadway) ("from the house they watched the washout of their newly seeded lawn by the water")
- To cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking ("The cat washes several times a day")
- Cleanse (one's body) with soap and water
- Wash or flow against
- Make moist
- Form by erosion ("The river washed a ravine into the mountainside")
- Remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap or some other cleaning agent ("he washed the dirt from his coat", "The nurse washed away the blood", "Can you wash away the spots on the windows?", and "he managed to wash out the stains")
- Apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to
- Clean with some chemical process
- Cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water ("Wash the towels, please!")
- Separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)
- Move by or as if by water ("The swollen river washed away the footbridge")
- Admit to testing or proof ("This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court")
- Be capable of being washed ("Does this material wash?")
Wiktionary
From Middle English washen, waschen, weschen, from Old English wascan, wæscan (“to wash, cleanse, bathe, lave”), from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną (“to wash, get wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“wet; water”). Cognate with West Frisian waskje, Dutch wassen, wasschen (“to wash”), Low German waschen (“to wash”), German waschen (“to wash”), Danish vaske (“to wash”), Swedish vaska (“to wash”), Icelandic vaska (“to wash”).
- The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
- I'm going to have a quick before coming to bed.
- My jacket needs a .
- A liquid used for washing.
- The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
- There's a lot in that : maybe you should split it into two piles.
- (art) A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
- The sound of breaking of the seas, e.g., on the shore.
- I could hear the of the wave.
- The wake of a moving ship.
- The ship left a big
- Sail away from the to avoid rocking the boat.
- The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
- A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
- mouth
- hand
- Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
- A piece of ground washed by the action of water, or sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the shallowest part of a river, or arm of the sea; also, a bog; a marsh.
- A shallow body of water.
- In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi.
- A situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.
- Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
- In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
- A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
- A thin coat of metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
- (nautical) The blade of an oar.
- The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
- Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
- (architecture) The upper surface of a member or material when given a slope to shed water; hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water.
- a carriage in a stable