Word.ws English Dictionary

wash

/wɒʃ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northumbria/wɛʃ/

wash verb: to clean with water.

wash: to clean with water
Image: Jacek Halicki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

wash (third-person singular simple present washes, present participle washing, simple past washed, past participle washed or (archaic) washen)

  1. (transitive) To clean with water.
    • The car is so dirty, we need to wash it.
    • Dishwashers wash dishes way more efficiently than most humans.
  2. (transitive) To carry away or erode by the force of water in motion.
    • Don't pour that in the drain; it will wash downstream.
    • Heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.
  3. (intransitive) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
  4. (intransitive) To clean oneself with water.
    • I wash every morning after getting up.
  5. (transitive) To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.
    • Waves wash the shore.
    • fresh-blown roses washed with dewa. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC
  6. (intransitive) To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.
    • to hear the water washing
    • I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.1870, Alfred Tennyson, “The Passing of Arthur”, in The Holy Grail and Other Poems, London: Strahan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 144
  7. (intransitive) To withstand being washed without impairment, as clothing, especially dyed clothing.
  8. (figuratively, intransitive) To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
    • “And then, how could he know it was her coffee? No, old fellow, I don’t think that will wash.”1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 128
    • I don't find the answers you have given will wash with the general public. And eventually, if they don't wash, then these deductions will be gone.1985, Bob Packwood, “Tax Reform Proposals: Hearing Before the Committee on Finance”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance, page 52
  9. (intransitive) To bear without damage the operation of being washed; to be suitable for washing.
    • Some calicoes do not wash.
  10. (transitive) To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
  11. (transitive) To overlay with a thin coat of metal.
    • steel washed with silver
  12. (transitive) To pass or extract (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.
    • Aqueous washings are done to remove water soluble impurities from organic products since normally the compound that you desire will be dissolved in the organic layer[…]2012, MIT OpenCourseWare, Chemistry Laboratory Techniques, page 1
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
  2. (transitive) To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.
  3. To mix up tiles (before a new game) to make them random; to shuffle.

Noun (1)

wash (countable and uncountable, plural washes)

  1. The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
    • I'm going to have a quick wash before coming to bed.
    • My jacket needs a wash.
  2. A liquid used for washing.
  3. A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
    • mouth wash
    • hand wash
  4. The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
    • There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.
  5. A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.
  6. The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.
    • I could hear the wash of the wave.
    • […] the wind in the cordage and the wash of the sea helped the more to put them beyond earshot […]1924, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.
  7. The bow wave or wake of a moving ship, or the vortex from its screws.
    • The ship left a big wash
    • Sail away from the wash to avoid rocking the boat.
  8. The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
  9. The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
  10. The blade of an oar.
  11. Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
    • The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, […]where rain water hath a long time settled.1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC
  12. 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.
    • These Lincoln washes have devoured them.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
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  1. A shallow body of water.
  2. In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream.
    • Near-synonyms: arroyo, wadi, nahal (synonymous other than regiolectal specificity)
    • In some desert-wash systems (which have been termed “xero-riparian”)1997, Stanley Desmond Smith, et al. Physiological Ecology of North American Desert Plants, Nature
    Synonyms:
    dry wash, arroyo, wadi, nahal
  3. (idiomatic) A situation in which gains and losses or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent, or in which there is no net change.
    • I knew that for every vote I cast for, say, the Republicans, some kid at a polling place nearby was casting his votes for the Democrats, so it was probably a wash or close to it.2003, David Brenner, I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup, page 100
  4. (slang) A fictitious kind of sale of stock or other securities between parties of one interest, or by a broker who is both buyer and seller, and who minds his own interest rather than that of his clients.
  5. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
  6. In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
  7. A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
    • In order to augment the vinosity of the wash, many substances are recommended by Dr. Shaw, such as tartar, nitre, common salt, and the vegetable or mineral acids.1793, Bryan Edwards, History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies
  8. A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
  9. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
  10. 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 wash in a stable
  11. A lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.
  12. A lighting fixture that can cast a wide beam of light to evenly fill an area with light, as opposed to a spotlight.
  13. A total failure; a washout.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Wash

Wash

  1. A bay with multiple estuaries of great ecological importance in eastern England, dividing Lincolnshire from Norfolk.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Wash

Wash

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Washington.

Noun (2) capitalized: WASH

WASH (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

wash meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

wash in Hindi

to clean with water — see also deterge
धोना dhonā

wash in Tamil

to clean with water — see also deterge
கழுவு kaḻuvu, அலம்பு alampu, துவை tuvai

wash in Urdu

to clean with water — see also deterge
دھونا dhonā

wash in Bengali

to clean with water — see also deterge
ধোয়া dhōẇa, ধোওয়া dhōōẇa
More languagesFewer languages
wash in Telugu
కడుగు hands kaḍugu, ఉతుకు clothes utuku, కడుక్కొను kaḍukkonu
wash in Sanskrit
क्षिपति kṣipati
wash in Assamese
ধোৱা dhüa
wash in Pashto
ولل wlᶕl, اندرېيل andreyál
wash in Tagalog
maghugas, hugasan, hugas
wash in Arabic
غَسَلَ ḡasala
wash in Malay
mencuci
wash in Indonesian
mencuci
wash in Persian
شستن šostan, فرسودن farsôdan, خودشویی xodšôyi
wash in Thai
ล้าง láang, ซัก sák
wash in Vietnamese
rửa, giặt
wash in Myanmar
ဆေး hce:
Kashmiri
چھَلُن chalun

Examples of wash in a sentence

  • This new washing powder rlly washes bedclothes superwhite.
  • The flood washed away houses.
  • The remaining flotsam was washed ashore.
  • Wash the vegetables, drain off the surplus water, and pack them in a keg, crock, or other utensil until it is nearly full1917, Lester Angell Round, Harold Locke Lang, Preservation of vegetables by fermentation and salting, page 9:
  • If using celery or okra, wash the vegetables in safe water.1971, Homemaking Handbook: For Village Workers in Many Countries, page 101:
  • Wash the vegetables thoroughly; even a little dirt can contain bacteria.2010, Catherine Abbott, The Everything Grow Your Own Vegetables Book: Your Complete Guide to planting, tending, and harvesting vegetables...

All 40 example sentences with wash

Synonyms of wash

Forms of wash

Verb
third-person singular presentwashes
present participlewashing
pastwashed
past participlewashed
past participle (archaic)washen
Noun
pluralwashes

Past tense of wash: washed

Plural of wash: washes

Origin of wash

From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen (“to wash”), from Old English wascan (“to wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *waskan (“to wash”), from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną (“to wash, get wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“wet, water”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian waaske (“to wash”), West Frisian waskje (“to wash”), Dutch wassen, wasschen (“to wash”), Low German waschen (“to wash”), German waschen (“to wash”), Danish vaske (“to wash”), Faroese and Icelandic vaska (“to wash”), Norwegian Bokmål vaske (“to wash”), Norwegian Nynorsk vaske, vaska (“to wash”), Swedish vaska (“to wash”). The noun is cognate with Saterland Frisian Waaske (“wash”), West Frisian wask (“wash”), Dutch was (“wash”), Low German Wask, Waske (“wash”), German Wäsche (“wash”), Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish vask (“wash”).

Possibilities are discussed at The Wash § History.

Clipping of Washington.

Words formed from wash

Phrases with wash

71 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with wash

12 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about wash

What does wash mean?
Wash means to clean with water.
What is wash in Hindi?
Wash in Hindi is धोना (dhonā). See Wash meaning in Hindi.
How do you use wash in a sentence?
This new washing powder rlly washes bedclothes superwhite.
What part of speech is wash?
Wash can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce wash?
Wash is pronounced /wɒʃ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of wash?
The past tense of wash is washed.

Words near wash in the dictionary

  1. Waseca
  2. Waseca County
  3. wasei kango
  4. Wasembo
  5. wases
  6. wash
  7. wash a blackamoor white
  8. wash a negro white
  9. wash and go
  10. wash and squash
  11. wash away

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wash (page history and authors); Wash (page history and authors); WASH (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-to wash.ogg, en-us-wash.ogg.

Cite this entry: “wash.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wash. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.