wash

Meanings

1. 1
   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

2. 2
   noun

   the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water, as from a roadway

   I watched the wash remove mud from our driveway.

3. 3
   verb

   to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking

   The cat washes several times a day

4. 4
   verb

   form by erosion

   The river washed a ravine into the mountainside

5. 5
   verb

   remove by the application of water, other liquid, soap or other cleaning agent

   I washed the dirt from my coat.

6. 6
   verb

   move by or as if by water

   The swollen river washed away the footbridge

7. 7
   verb

   admit to testing or proof

   This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court

8. 8
   verb

   be capable of being washed

   Does this material wash?

Etymology

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 was…