washout

Noun

washout (countable and uncountable, plural washouts)

1. An act of washing or cleaning the inside of something.
   • No. 21C9 was in need of a boiler washout and though she was carefully and assiduously fired and use made of the fire-irons during the run, it was not possible to maintain steam, which often fell as low as 210 lb.1944 March–April, E. S. Waterhouse, “Two Footplate Rides on ‘Merchant Navy’ Locomotives”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 88
   • In recent months, as we have already reported, boiler washouts of Stratford's "Britannia" Pacifics have been carried out at Norwich, owing to the better staff situation at the latter shed, […]1959 April, “Motive Power Miscellany: Eastern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 224
2. An appliance designed to wash out the inside of something.
   • The cistern was fitted with washouts and air-valves.
3. The erosion of a relatively soft surface by a sudden gush of water; also, a channel produced by this action.
   1. A breach in a railway or road caused by flooding.
      • In a message to NR [National Rail] staff on August 14, Haines said: "It's not just Scotland impacted by extreme wet weather. This week we have seen, and will continue to see, heavy rain fall. This has caused washouts and landslips across the length and breadth of Great Britain."2020 August 26, “Network News: [Grant] Shapps Orders Rapid Review of Flash Flood Resilience from NR”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9
4. (slang) A sporting fixture or other event that cannot be completed because of rain.
   • The Austin picnic was a washout, rained all day.1939, The Railroad Telegrapher, volume 56, Peoria, Ill.: Order of Railroad Telegraphers, →OCLC, page 779

   Synonyms:

   rainout

5. (slang) An overwhelming victory; a landslide.
   • Illawarra turns blue in Liberal washout [title]2011 March 28, “Illawarra turns blue in Liberal washout”, in ABC News, Sydney, N.S.W., archived from the original on 03 Mar 2023
   • [Joe] Biden failed to flip crucial toss-up states such as Florida and Ohio and pull off the blue washout his supporters had been touting.2020 November 5, Jack Elsom, “‘We were told this was going to be a landslide!’ Piers Morgan blames the Democrats and Joe Biden’s lacklustre campaign for closer than predicted presidential race”, in...
6. (slang) A total failure; a disappointment.
   • "I thought you was goin' into the business yourself." / "That's a wash-out," snarled Silas. "Don't you talk of it. It's finished."1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Where Silas Linden Comes into His Own”, in The Land of Mist, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published 1926, →OCLC, page 190
   • [Chapter XX] "And what you do, Bertie, is get out that car of yours and scour the countryside for Glossop. It may be possible to head him off. Come on, come on, let's have some service. What are you waiting for?” I hadn't exactly been waiting. I'd only been thinking that the enterprise had more...1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “CHAPTERS XX–XXI”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
7. (slang) An unsuccessful person.
   • As an actor he was a complete washout, so he went back to accounting.
8. The aerodynamic effect of a small twist in the shape of an aircraft wing.
9. (UK, air force slang) A destroyed aeroplane.
10. (UK) A trainee who drops out of a training programme.
11. A period between clinical treatments in which any medication delivered as the first treatment is allowed to be eliminated from a person's body before the second treatment begins.
12. (also) The cleaning of matter from a physiological system using a fluid; also, the fluid used for such cleaning; or the matter cleaned out from the system.
    • a bladder washout
13. The action whereby falling rainwater cleans particles from the air.
14. A place in a mine where ore has been washed away by a flow of water.