[ AS. wæs, 2d pers. w&aemacr_;re, 3d pers. wæs, pl. w&aemacr_;ron, with the inf. wesan to be; akin to D. wezen, imp. was, OHG. wesan, imp. was, G. wesen, n., a being, essence, war was, Icel. vera to be, imp. var, Goth. wisan to be, to dwell, to remain, imp. was, Skr. vas to remain, to dwell. √148. Cf. Vernacular, Wassail, Were, v. ] The first and third persons singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, preterit (imperfect) tense; as, I was; he was. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Sw. vase a sheaf. ] A bundle of straw, or other material, to relieve the pressure of burdens carried upon the head. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To perform the act of ablution. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wash in Jordan seven times. 2 Kings v. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To clean anything by rubbing or dipping it in water; to perform the business of cleansing clothes, ore, etc., in water. “She can wash and scour.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as, some calicoes do not wash. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To use washes, as for the face or hair. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

6. To move with a lapping or swashing sound, or the like; to lap; splash; as, to hear the water washing. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

7. 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 ] [ PJC ]

n. 1. The act of washing; an ablution; a cleansing, wetting, or dashing with water; hence, a quantity, as of clothes, washed at once. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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 Wash of Edmonton so gay.” Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

These Lincoln washes have devoured them. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Substances collected and deposited by the action of water; as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Distilling) (a) The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted. (b) A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation. B. Edwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared, tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) A liquid cosmetic for the complexion. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A liquid dentifrice. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) A medical preparation in a liquid form for external application; a lotion. [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color. [ 1913 Webster ]

(j) A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any object, for beauty or preservation; -- called also washing. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

7. (Naut.) (a) The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water. (b) The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a wave; also, the sound of it. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

10. [ Western U. S. ] (Geol.) (a) Gravel and other rock débris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium. (b) An alluvial cone formed by a stream at the base of a mountain. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

11. The dry bed of an intermittent stream, sometimes at the bottom of a canyon; as, the Amargosa wash, Diamond wash; -- called also dry wash. [ Western U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

12. (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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

13. an action or situation in which the gains and losses are equal, or closely compensate each other. [ PJC ]

14. (Aeronautics) the disturbance of the air left behind in the wake of a moving airplane or one of its parts. [ PJC ]

Wash ball, a ball of soap to be used in washing the hands or face. Swift. --
Wash barrel (Fisheries), a barrel nearly full of split mackerel, loosely put in, and afterward filled with salt water in order to soak the blood from the fish before salting. --
Wash bottle. (Chem.) (a) A bottle partially filled with some liquid through which gases are passed for the purpose of purifying them, especially by removing soluble constituents. (b) A washing bottle. See under Washing. --
Wash gilding. See Water gilding. --
Wash leather, split sheepskin dressed with oil, in imitation of chamois, or shammy, and used for dusting, cleaning glass or plate, etc.; also, alumed, or buff, leather for soldiers' belts. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Washed p. pr. & vb. n. Washing. ] [ OE. waschen, AS. wascan; akin to D. wasschen, G. waschen, OHG. wascan, Icel. & Sw. vaska, Dan. vaske, and perhaps to E. water. √150. ] 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fresh-blown roses washed with dew. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The landscape ] washed with a cold, gray mist. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To waste or abrade by the force of water in motion; as, heavy rains wash a road or an embankment. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins. Acts xxii. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

The tide will wash you off. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To cover with a thin or watery coat of color; to tint lightly and thinly. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To overlay with a thin coat of metal; as, steel washed with silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To cause dephosphorisation of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

8. To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, esp. by removing soluble constituents. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

To wash gold, etc., to treat earth or gravel, or crushed ore, with water, in order to separate the gold or other metal, or metallic ore, through their higher density. --
To wash the hands of. See under Hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Washy; weak. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash goods. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being washed without damage to fabric or color. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A fluted, or ribbed, board on which clothes are rubbed in washing them. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A board running round, and serving as a facing for, the walls of a room, next to the floor; a mopboard. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A broad, thin plank, fixed along the gunwale of boat to keep the sea from breaking inboard; also, a plank on the sill of a lower deck port, for the same purpose; -- called also wasteboard. Mar. Dict. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A basin, or bowl, to hold water for washing one's hands, face, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A washbowl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Same as Washerwoman, 2. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]