wash

WASH, v.t. [G.]

1. To cleanse by ablution, or by rubbing in water; as, to wash the hands or the body; to wash garments.

2. To wet; to fall on and moisten; as, the rain washes the flowers or plants.

3. To overflow. The tides wash the meadows.

4. To overflow or dash against; to cover with water; as, the waves wash the strand or shore; the sea washes the rocks on the shore or beach.

5. To scrub in water; as, to wash a deck or a floor.

6. To separate extraneous matter from; as, to wash ore; to wash grain.

7. In painting, to lay a color over any work with a pencil, to give it the proper tints, and make it appear more natural. Thus work is washed with a pale red to imitate brick, &c.

8. To rub over with some liquid substance; as, to wash trees fro removing insects or diseases.

9. To squeeze and cleanse in water; as, to wash wool. So sheep are said to be washed, when they are immersed in water and their wool squeezed, by which means it is cleansed.

10. To cleanse by a current of water; as, showers wash the streets.

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

12. To purify from the pollution of sin.

But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. 1 Corinthians 6.

To wash a ship, to bring all her guns to one side to make her heel, and then to wash and scrape her side.

WASH, v.i.

1. To perform the act of ablution.

Wash in Jordan seven times. 2 Kings 5. [Elliptical.]

2. To perform the business of cleansing clothes in water.

She can wash and scour.

To wash off, in calico-printing, to soak and rinse printed calicoes, to dissolve and remove the gum and paste.

WASH, n.

1. Alluvial matter; substances collected and deposited by water; as the wash of a river.

2. A bog; a marsh; a fen.

Neptunes salt wash.

3. A cosmetic; as a wash for the face, to help the complexion.

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

5. A superficial stain or color.

6. Waste liquor of a kitchen for hogs.

7. The act of washing the clothes of a family; or the whole quantity washed at once. There is a great wash, or a small wash.

8. With distillers, the fermentable liquor made b dissolving the proper subject for fermentation and distillation in common water. In the distillery of malt, the wash is made by mixing the water hot, with the malt ground into meal.

9. The shallow part of a river, or arm of the sea; as the wastes in Lincolnshire.

10. The blade of an oar; the thin part, which enters the water and by whose impulse the boat is moved.

11. The color laid on a picture to vary its tints.

12. A substance laid on boards or other work for beauty or preservation.

13. A thin coat of metal.

14. In the west Indies, a mixture of dunder, molasses, water and scummings, for distillation.

wash

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