What is "wash"

Wash \Wash\ (w[o^]sh), 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. [root]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.

   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.

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.

   Fresh-blown roses washed with dew.
   --Milton.

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

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

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.

   Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.
   --Acts xxii. 16.

   The tide will wash you off.
   --Shak.

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

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

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

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

   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.

Wash \Wash\, v. i.

1. To perform the act of ablution.

   Wash in Jordan seven times.
   --2 Kings v. 10.

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.

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

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.

5. To use washes, as for the face or hair.

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

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]

Wash \Wash\, a.

1. Washy; weak. [Obs.]

   Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper.
   --Beau. & Fl.

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

Wash \Wash\, n.

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

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.

   These Lincoln washes have devoured them.
   --Shak.

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

   The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled.
   --Mortimer.

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

5. (Distilling)

   1. The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.

   2. A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
      --B. Edwards.

6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared, tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically:

   1. A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.

   2. A liquid dentifrice.

   3. A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash.

   4. A medical preparation in a liquid form for external application; a lotion.

   5. (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color. (j) A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any object, for beauty or preservation; -- called also washing.

7. (Naut.)

   1. The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water.

   2. The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.

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

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

10. [Western U. S.] (Geol.)

    1. Gravel and other rock d['e]bris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium.

    2. An alluvial cone formed by a stream at the base of a mountain.

11. The dry bed of an intermittent stream, sometimes at the bottom of a ca[~n]on; as, the Amargosa wash, Diamond wash; -- called also dry wash. [Western U. S.]

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.

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

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

    1. A bottle partially filled with some liquid through which gases are passed for the purpose of purifying them, especially by removing soluble constituents.

    2. 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.

late Old English wæsc "act of washing," from wash (v.). Meaning "clothes set aside to be washed" is attested from 1789; meaning "thin coat of paint" is recorded from 1690s; sense of "land alternately covered and exposed by the sea" is recorded from mid-15c.

Old English wascan "to wash, cleanse, bathe," transitive sense in late Old English, from Proto-Germanic *watskan "to wash" (cognates: Old Norse vaska, Middle Dutch wasscen, Dutch wassen, German waschen), from stem *wed- "water, wet" (see water (n.1)). Related: Washed; washing.\n

\nUsed mainly of clothes in Old English (the principal verb for washing the body, dishes, etc. being þwean). Old French gaschier "to stain, soil; soak, wash" (Modern French gâcher) is from Frankish *waskan, from the same Germanic source. Italian guazzare also is a Germanic loan-word. To wash (one's) hands of something id 1550s, from Pilate in Matt. xxvii.24. To wash up "clean utensils after a meal" is from 1751. Washed up "no longer effective" is 1923, theater slang, from notion of washing up at the end of a job.

n. 1 The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid. 2 A liquid used for washing. 3 The quantity of clothes washed at a time. 4 (context arts English) A smooth and translucent painting#Noun created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent#Noun and a small amount of paint#Noun. 5 The sound of breaking of the seas, e.g., on the shore. 6 The wake of a moving ship. 7 The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane. 8 A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties. 9 Ground washed away to the sea or a river. 10 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. 11 A shallow body of water. 12 In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi. 13 An situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change. 14 Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash. 15 In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted. 16 A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation. 17 A thin coat of metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation. 18 (context nautical English) The blade of an oar. 19 The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc. 20 Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters. 21 (cx architecture English) 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. vb. 1 To clean with water. 2 (context transitive English) To move or erode by the force of water in motion. 3 (context mining English) To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water. 4 (context intransitive English) To clean oneself with water. 5 (context transitive English) To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten. 6 (cx intransitive English) To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash. 7 (context intransitive English) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water. 8 (context intransitive figuratively English) To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique. 9 (context intransitive English) To bear without injury the operation of being washed. 10 (context intransitive English) 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. 11 To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly. 12 To overlay with a thin coat of metal. 13 (cx transitive English) To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide. 14 (cx transitive English) To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.

1. n. a thin coat of water-base paint

2. the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water) [syn: washing, lavation]

3. the dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a canyon) [syn: dry wash]

4. the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water (as from a roadway); "from the house they watched the washout of their newly seeded lawn by the water" [syn: washout]

5. the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller [syn: slipstream, airstream, race, backwash]

6. a watercolor made by applying a series of monochrome washes one over the other [syn: wash drawing]

7. garments or white goods that can be cleaned by laundering [syn: laundry, washing, washables]

8. any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out; "at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash"

1. v. clean with some chemical process [syn: rinse]

2. cleanse (one's body) with soap and water [syn: lave]

3. cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water; "Wash the towels, please!" [syn: launder]

4. move by or as if by water; "The swollen river washed away the footbridge"

5. be capable of being washed; "Does this material wash?"

6. admit to testing or proof; "This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court"

7. separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)

8. apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to

9. remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap or some other cleaning agent; "he washed the dirt from his coat"; "The nurse washed away the blood"; "Can you wash away the spots on the windows?"; "he managed to wash out the stains" [syn: wash out, wash off, wash away]

10. form by erosion; "The river washed a ravine into the mountainside"

11. make moist; "The dew moistened the meadows" [syn: moisten, dampen]

12. wash or flow against; "the waves laved the shore" [syn: lave, lap]

13. to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking; "The cat washes several times a day"

WASH (also spelled WaSH) stands for " Water, Sanitation and Hygiene" - several interrelated public health issues that are of particular interest to international development programs. Affordable access to WASH is a key public health issue, especially in many countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Several international development agencies have identified WASH as an area with great potential to improve health, life-expectancy, student learning, gender equality, and many other key issues of development.

Term used in the production of distilled beverages. Wash is the finished product of fermentation destined to be distilled for the first time. Distillation being the removal of impurities or purification of the spirit (alcoholic liquor), hence it is being Washed. Also referred to as Low Wines (4%-20% ABV) when distilled the first time, and High Wines 20%-65% ABV) when the spirit has been distilled additional times.

Ronald Washington Jr., better known by his stage name Wash, is an American recording artist.

WASH (97.1 FM) is an iHeartMedia, Inc. radio station located in Washington, D.C.. Known on-air as "Wash-FM", the station has an adult contemporary format. The station also streams its broadcast on iHeartRadio. The station's studios are located in Rockville, Maryland and the transmitter site is in DC's Tenleytown district.

WASH has been a soft adult contemporary station in one form or another since the 1970s. For a few years in the early 1980s, the station attempted to do a Top 40 / CHR format (publicized by the station's "WASH with the Stars" TV ad campaign) which had no success and the station later returned to their original Soft AC format. Until late 2013, the station played disco music and related songs (mostly 1970s Top 40) in a program known as "Jammin' Saturday Night" from 7 pm to midnight. After the 2013 holiday season, the program was revamped to play songs from the 1980s under the name "All 80's Saturday Night".

The station plays exclusively Christmas music from mid-November through Christmas Day (plus on July 25 for "Christmas in July") and calls itself "Washington's Official Christmas Station" during the season.

WASH-FM broadcasts in the HD digital hybrid format.

A wash is a term for a visual arts technique resulting in a semi-transparent layer of color. A wash of diluted ink or watercolor paint applied in combination with drawing is called pen and wash, wash drawing, or ink and wash. Normally only one or two colours of wash are used; if more colours are used the result is likely to be classified as a full watercolor painting.

In painting it is a technique in which a paint brush that is very wet with solvent and holds a small load of paint or ink is applied to a wet or dry support such as paper or primed or raw canvas. The result is a smooth and uniform area that ideally lacks the appearance of brush strokes and is semi-transparent. In East Asian traditions Ink and wash painting is a very important technique, all applied with brushes, especially for landscape painting.

A wash is accomplished by using a large amount of solvent with little paint. Paint consists of a pigment and binder which allows the pigment to adhere to its support. Solvents dilute the binder, thus diluting the binding strength of the paint. Washes can be brittle and fragile paint films because of this. However, when gum arabic watercolor washes are applied to a highly absorbent surface, such as paper, the effects are long lasting.

The wash technique can be achieved by doing the following:

• With water-based media such as inks, acrylic paints, tempera paints or watercolor paints, a wet brush should be dipped into a pool of very wet and diluted paint. This paint pool should be evenly mixed and dispersed to prevent uneven pigment load on the brush. The loaded brush should then be applied to a dry or wet support. Washes are most often applied with large brushes over large areas. The areas in which a wash effects can be controlled with careful application of the wash, and with the use of liquid frisket or rubber cement.
• With oil-based media such as oil paint, a similar technique as outlined above may be used, though instead of water the paint pool should be well diluted in solvent, such as turpentine or mineral spirits. The loaded brush should be applied to a dry or solvent soaked support. Because oil paint has a longer drying time than water-based media, brushing over or blending a wash can extend or even out the appearance of the wash. American artists Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis, Sam Francis, Paul Jenkins, Helen Frankenthaler, Jules Olitski, Friedel Dzubas, Ronnie Landfield and several others are famous for creating washy, watercolor-like effects in oil and acrylic paintings in distinctive and radical styles and versions of this method, and which is sometimes called stain painting.

In interior design, a wash or color wash of paint on a wall can be used to create a textured effect as a faux finish.

In ceramics, a wash is typically a coloring oxide thinned with water applied to the piece to achieve an effect similar to a glaze.

Digital image creation software can have features that simulate the painting technique.

Within cinematic representation of the technique, Alfred Hitchcock used a wash of red over closeup of actress Tippi Hedren in Marnie as an expressionistic representation of the character's emotional trauma.