wash

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 ]

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 ]

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. 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 ]

. (Art) In water-color painting, work in, or a work done chiefly in, washes, as distinguished from that done in stipple, in body color, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]