Meaning of wash In English

• 0 to clean something using water:

  • wash your hair/hands

  • wash the car/clothes/floor

  • These sheets need washing.

  • I'll wash the bottle out (= clean its inside) and use it again.

  • I'd like to wash before dinner.

• 1 If water washes somewhere, it flows there, usually repeatedly:

  • She stood on the shore and let the water wash over her tired feet.

  • Overnight the waves had washed up a lot of rubbish.

  • More than 400 dead dolphins had been washed ashore.

  • A Spanish crew member had been washed overboard (= carried off a ship into the sea by the force of the water) in the storm.

• 2 the action of washing something or a part of your body:

  • Those curtains need a good (= careful) wash.

  • Erik needed a good wash after playing in the garden.

  • Can I put this shirt in (with) the white wash?

  • "Where's my pink shirt?" "It's in the wash" (= being washed or in a pile of clothes that is going to be washed).

  • I need to have a wash before dinner

  • Are you doing a wash tonight?

• 3 a thin layer of water or paint mixed with water, especially one that is brushed lightly over a painting to make the lines softer:

  • a blue wash/ a wash of blue

  • Just before the paint dries, I give it a light wash.

• 4 an event or situation in which positive and negative things balance each other:

  • If pollution controls are enforced here, the factories will move to where they're allowed to pollute, so it'll be a wash as far as clear air goes.

• 5 (the sound made) when the sea moves against land, etc.:

  • Outside the house, she could hear the gentle wash of the waves on the beach.

• 6 to make something or yourself clean, or to become clean, using water and usually soap:

  • [ T ] Alex washed his face and combed his hair.

  • [ T ] I hate washing dishes.

• 7 (esp. of water) to flow or to cause to flow, often carrying something along:

  • [ I ] Waves washed against the boat.

  • [ T ] Heavy rains always wash the sand down the hill.

  • [ M ] Even trees and cars were washed away in this flood.

  • [ M ] That storm washed a lot of crabs up on the shore.

• 8 an event or situation in which positive and negative things balance each other:

  • I sold my car for about what it cost me, so it was a wash.

• 9 an act of washing, or clothing, sheets, and other cloth items being cleaned together:

  • [ C usually sing ] I went days without a wash or a change of clothes.

  • [ U ] She did a load of wash and hung it up to dry.