wash

Verb

• to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking
  • The cat washes several times a day
    

• wash or flow against
  • the waves laved the shore
    

• make moist
  • The dew moistened the meadows
    

• 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?
    
  • he managed to wash out the stains
    

• apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to

• separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)

• admit to testing or proof
  • This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court
    

• be capable of being washed
  • Does this material wash?
    

• move by or as if by water
  • The swollen river washed away the footbridge
    

• cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water
  • Wash the towels, please!
    

• cleanse (one's body) with soap and water

• clean with some chemical process

Noun

• 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

• 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
    

• the dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a canyon)

• the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)

• a thin coat of water-base paint

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  lave , lap , moisten , dampen , wash out , wash off , wash away , launder , rinse , laundry , washing , washables , wash drawing , slipstream , airstream , race , backwash , washout , dry wash , lavation