In chem., to purity (a gas) by causing (it) to bubble through water, or some other liquid, or some special solution, by means of which foreign substances are removed. Thus hydrogen gas may be washed free of sulphureted hydrogen by passing it through a solution of lead acetate.To subject, as stock, to a wash or fictitious sale. See wash, n., 14.To both sell and buy the same stock at the same time.n. A stony or gravelly slope of gentle declivity formed of debris washed from mountains by occasional torrential rains.n. An eroded or washed-out depression.n. The dry bed of an intermittent stream.n. An abbreviation of Washington (State).To apply a liquid, especially water, to for the purpose of cleansing; scrub, scour, or cleanse in or with water or other liquid; free from impurities by ablution: as, to wash the hands and face; to wash linen; to wash the floor; to wash dishes.Hence, to free from ceremonial defilement, or from the stains of guilt, sin, or corruption; purify.To wet copiously, as with water or other liquid; moisten; cover with moisture.To lap: lave, as by surrounding water; surround; overflow or dash over or against; sweep, as with flowing water.To remove by ablution or by the cleansing action of water; dispel by or as by washing: either literally or figuratively: used with away, off, out, etc.To overwhelm and carry along (in some specified direction) by or as by a rush of water: as, a man washed overboard; debris washed up by the storm; roast beef washed down with ale.To cover with a watery or thin coat of color; tint lightly, thinly, or evenly, in water-color, with a pigment so mixed as to be very fluid and rapidly and smoothly applied.To overlay with a thin coat or deposit of metal: as, to wash copper or brass with gold.In mining, metal., etc., to separate from the earthy and lighter matters by the action of water: as, to wash gold; to wash ores.To perform the act of ablution on one's own person.To cleanse clothes in or with water.To stand the operation of washing without being destroyed, spoiled, or injured: said both of fabrics and of dyes: as, a dress that will not wash; colors that do not wash well.Hence, to stand being put to the proof; stand the test: prove genuine, reliable, trust-worthy, capable, or fit, when submitted to trial.To be eroded, as by a stream, by rainfall, etc.To use washes or cosmetics.To make a swish, swash, or swirl of the water: as, the shad are washing. See shad-wash.n. The act or operation of cleansing by the application of water; a cleansing with water or other liquid: as, to give one's face a wash.n. Articles in the course of being cleansed by washing, or the quantity of clothes or other articles washed on one occasion.n. The flow or sweep of a body of water; the onward rush of water as its billows break upon the shore; the dash or break of waves upon a shore.n. The rough or broken water left behind by a vessel as it moves along: as, the wash of the steamer nearly filled the boat.n. The licking or lapping noise made by rippling water as it comes in contact with a boat, a pier, the strand, or the like; the swish-swash of water disturbed as by wind or by ebb or flow.n. A piece of ground washed by the action of the sea or river, or sometimes overflowed and sometimes left dry; a shallow part of a river or arm of the sea; also, a morass or marsh; a bog; a fen; a quagmire.n. Substances collected and deposited by the action of water, such as alluvium.n. Waste liquor containing the refuse of food, collected from the cleansed dishes, etc., of a kitchen, such as is often given to pigs; swill or swillings.n. In distilling:n. The fermented wort, from which the spirit is extracted.n. A mixture of dunder, molasses, scummings, and water, used in the West Indies for distillation.n. A liquid used for application to a surface or a body to cleanse it, color it, or the like—especially a thin and watery liquid, as distinguished from one that is glutinous or oily.n. In medicine, a lotion.n. A thin even coating of color spread over a surface, as of a painting. See def. 11.n. In zoology, a light or slight surface-coloration, as if laid over a ground-color; a superficial tone or tinge: as, a frosty wash over black.n. A thin coat of metal applied to anything for beauty or preservation.n. In water-color painting, the application of a pigment so mixed as to be in a very fluid condition, or a coat so applied.n. The blade of an oar.n. A measure of shell-fish; a stamped measure capable of holding 21 quarts and a pint of water.n. A fictitious kind of sale, disallowed on the stock and other exchanges, in which a broker who has received orders from one person to buy and from another person to sell a particular amount or quantity of some particular stock or commodity simply transfers the stock or commodity from one principal to the other and pockets the difference, instead of executing both orders separately to the best advantage in each ease, as is required by the rules of the different exchanges.n. That which is moved by the force of rain; a deposit formed by rain.n. Bates's camphorated water, made by adding copper sulphate, Armenian bole, and camphor to boiling water, and then straining.Washy; weak; easily losing its qualities.