Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Wash \Wash\ (w[o^]sh), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Washed} (w[o^]sht);
   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.

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.

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)
      (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.

   6. That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared,
      tinted, etc., upon the surface. Specifically:
      (a) A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.
      (b) A liquid dentifrice.
      (c) A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash.
      (d) A medical preparation in a liquid form for external
          application; a lotion.
      (e) (Painting) A thin coat of color, esp. water color.
      (j) A thin coat of metal laid on anything for beauty or
          preservation.

   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.

   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.]

   {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.

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\, v. t.
   1. To cause dephosphorisation of (molten pig iron) by adding
      substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese
      oxide.

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

Wash \Wash\, v. i.
   1. To use washes, as for the face or hair.

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

Wash \Wash\, n.
   1. [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.

   2. 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.]

   3. (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.

Source : WordNet®

wash
     n 1: 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"

wash
     v 1: 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"