washing

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

These Lincoln washes have devoured them. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

3. Substances collected and deposited by the action of water; as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc. [1913 Webster]

The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled. --Mortimer. [1913 Webster]

4. Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5. (Distilling) (a) The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted. (b) A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation. --B. Edwards. [1913 Webster]

6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared, tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically: [1913 Webster] (a) A liquid cosmetic for the complexion. [1913 Webster] (b) A liquid dentifrice. [1913 Webster] (c) A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash. [1913 Webster] (d) A medical preparation in a liquid form for external application; a lotion. [1913 Webster] (e) (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color. [1913 Webster] (j) A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any object, for beauty or preservation; -- called also {washing}. [1913 Webster +PJC]

7. (Naut.) (a) The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water. (b) The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc. [1913 Webster]

8. The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a wave; also, the sound of it. [1913 Webster]

9. Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters. [Prov. Eng.] [1913 Webster]

10. [Western U. S.] (Geol.) (a) Gravel and other rock d['e]bris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium. (b) An alluvial cone formed by a stream at the base of a mountain. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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.] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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

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

{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.) (a) A bottle partially filled with some liquid through which gases are passed for the purpose of purifying them, especially by removing soluble constituents. (b) 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. [1913 Webster]