was 
theme am, nor with he ; but it has come to be 
used to supply the preterit of the verb he. See 
?>fl.] A verb-form used to supply the past 
tense of the verb be: as, I was, thou wast or 
wert, he was; we, you, or they icere. In the 
subjunctive, I were, thou teert, he were; we, you, 
they were, etc. 
In war irtw never lion raged more fierce. 
In peace wai never gentle lamb more mild. 
Shnk., llich. II., ii. 1. 173. 
A scene which I slunild see 
With double joy wert thou with me. 
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. .'J5 (song). 
Nay, nay, God wot, so thou reert nobly born 
Thou hast a pleasant presence. 
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette. 
The forins imst and wert in the second person singular 
of the indicative (cf. led. irert), and wert in the second 
person singular of the subjunctive, are modern, being 
conformed to the model of art. The older form of the 
second person singular in both moods is were. The un- 
grammatical combination yoti teas became common in 
tlie eighteenth century, but is now condemned. 
I was sorry i/ou vaft disappointed of going to Vallom- 
brosa. II. Walpole, To the Misses Berry, Sept. 25th, 1791. 
As I told you when you was here. 
Cuwper, To Kev. VV. Unwin, June 8, 1780. 
wasel (waz), n. [< ME. i(-(Z.sc, < MD. wasc = 
MLG. wa.fe, a bundle, torch, = Icel. vasi = Sw. 
Dan. r«S(?, a bundle, sheaf .] 1. Awisp; abun- 
dle of hay, straw, etc. Also wacse, wccsc. Ja- 
mieson. [Scotch.] — 2. A cushion or pad of 
straw, etc., worn on the head in order to soften 
the pressure of a load. Withals. [Prov. Eng. 
and Scotch.] — 3t. A torch. 
wase'-^t, ". An obsolete form of woose. 
waselt, V. i. [ME., < wase^, later woose.l To 
bemire one's self; sink in the mire. 
Tiiis wliit waselede in the [fen] almost to the ancle. 
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S,), 1. 430. 
wash (wosh), V. [< ME. wa-then, ioa.Hcheii, wesch- 
eii, wasshen, wascen, wasseii, wcii.ie (pret. wcsh, 
wescli, wessch, wessh, wosh, pi. loeshen, wesshen, 
wessen, woschcn, pp.waschen, Iwaschcn, iwaschc), 
< AS. leascaii, also waxan (pret.*M'o.sc or wux, pp. 
wascen, wsesceti) = D. wa.tschen = OIIG. wascan, 
MHG. waschen, weschen, G. wascheii = Icel. Sw. 
vaska = Dan. va.9ke (cf. OF. gascher, F. gdcher 
= It. guazsare, steep in water, < Tent.) ; Teut. 
*wuskan or *waksan, wash (ef. Skt. V iiksli, 
sprinkle, wet), perhaps with formative -s from 
the •/ wak, wag, moisten, or with formative 
-sk, < -j/ loat, water, wet (see water, we<l). Cf. 
Olr. iisce, Ir. nisce, water (see tchi.iky'^).'] I. 
trans. 1. 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 ti;a,<sh linen ; to wash the 
floor; to !c««ft dishes. 
They wesshen hym and wyped hym and wonden hym in 
cloutes. Piers Plowman (B), ii. 220. 
Hir foreheed shoon as bright as any day. 
So was it wasshen wlian stle leet hir werlc. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 12.'). 
The maiden her-silf wosh his visage and his nekke, and 
dried it full softely with a towaile, and than after to the 
tother twey kynges. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 225. 
He took water, and washed his hands before the multi- 
tude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just per- 
son. Mat. xxvii. 24. 
2. Hence, to free from ceremonial defilement, 
or from the stains of guilt, sin, or corruption; 
purify. 
And thei suffre not the Latynes to syngen at here Aw- 
teres: And zif thei done, be ony Aventure, anon thei 
wasschen the Awteer with holy Watre. 
Mandeinltc, Travels, p. 19. 
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse 
me from ray sin. ' Ps. Ii. 2, 
3. To wet copiously, as with water or other 
liquid; moisten; cover with moisture. 
The pride of Italy, tliat did liestow 
On Earth a beauty, waslit l)y silver Po. 
Sandys, Travailcs, p. 2. 
Slie looks as clear 
As morning roses newly washed with dew. 
Shak., T. of the S., ii. 1. 174. 
4. To lap: lave, as V)y surrounding water; sur- 
round; overflow or dash over or against; sweep, 
as with flowing water. 
Galatia ... on the North is washed with the Euxine 
Sea the space of two hundred and flftie miles. 
J'urchas, Pilgrimage, p. 321. 
5. To remove by .ablution or by the cleansing 
action of water; dispel by or as by washing: 
either literally or figuratively : used with aicai/, 
off, out, etc. 
Go get somfr water, 
And wash this lllthy witness //owi yoiu' hand. 
.SAn/,-., Macbeth, ii. 2. 47. 
6830 
Be baptized and wash away thy sins. Acts xxii. 16. 
Wash the black /rom the Ethiop's face. 
Wash the past out of man or race! 
Lowell, Villa Franca. 
6. 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. 
These dainties must be washd downe well with wine. 
With sacke & sugar, egges & muskadine. 
Krnes' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 87. 
I don't want my wreck to be washed up on one of the 
l)eache8 in company with devii's-aprons, bladder -weeds, 
dead horse-slioes, &c. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, vii. 
7. To cover with a watery or thin coat of col- 
or; tint lightly, thinly, or evenly, in water- 
color, with a pigment so mixed as to be very 
fluid and rapidly and smoothly applied. — 8. 
To overlay with a thin coat or deposit of metal : 
as, to wash copper or brass with gold. 
Those who were cunning in "the Art of making Black 
Dogs, which are Shillings, or other jneces of Money made 
only of Pewter, double Wash'd." 
J. Ashton, Social Life in the Ueign of Queen Anne, II. 225. 
9. In milling, metal., etc., to separate from the 
earthy and lighter matters by the action of 
water : as, to wash gold ; to loash ores. Washing 
is a common expression used in the most general way, as 
nearly an equivalent for ore.dressing, or the separation 
of ore from the gangue with which it is generally mixed. 
Tile tenn washing is, however, more especially used to 
designate the separation of gold from the detrital forma- 
tion in which it so frequently occurs. The same term is 
also commonly employed to designate the process of sep- 
arating coal from various impurities which frequently 
occur intermingled with it, such as shale, pyrites, argilla- 
ceous iron ore, gypsum, etc. The machines by wliich this 
is done are called coal-washers, as machines for washing 
gold are called gold'Washers. Washing is also the term 
in general use for designating the operation of cleansing 
the ore when, as is frequently the case, it comes from 
the mine mixed with clay or dirt (material which cannot 
properly be called gangue). This is a coarse operation, 
which is sometimes a necessary preliminary to the opera- 
tions of sizing atid dressing, or concentrating, as some- 
times called.— To wash one's hands of. See harul. 
II. intruns. 1. To perform the act of ablu- 
tion on one's own person. 
I will go ^cash ; 
And when my face is fair, you shall perceive 
Whether I blush or no. Shak., Cor., i. 9. 69. 
2. To cleanse clothes in or with water. 
I keep his house : and I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, 
dress meat and drink, make the beds, and do all myself. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 4. 101. 
3. 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. 
I had no idea your mousseline-de-laine would have 
washed so well. Why, it looks just out of the shop. 
C. lieade. Love me Little, x. 
4. Hence, to stand being put to the proof; 
stand the test; prove genuine, reliable, trust- 
worthv, capable, or fit, when submitted to trial. 
[Collo'q.] 
He's got pluck somewhere In him. That's the only 
thing after all that '11 wash, ain't it ? 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 2. 
5. To bo eroded, as by a stream, by rainfall, 
etc. 
What kind of grass is best on a hill that washes ? 
Sci. Amcr., N. S., LVII. 203. 
6. To use washes or cosmetics. 
Young Ladies who notoriously Wash and Paint, though 
they have naturally good Complexions. 
Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1. 
7. To make a swish, swash, or swirl of the wa- 
ter: as, the shad are xrashing. See shad-wash. 
wash (wosh), n. [< wash, v.l 1. The act or op- 
eration of cleansing by the application of wa- 
ter; a clean.sing with water or other liquid: 
as, to give one's face a wash. 
Though she may have done a hard day's v^ash, there 's 
not a child ill within the street but Alice goes to offer to 
sit up. Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, 1. 
A tub and a clothes-horse at the other end of the kitchen 
indicated an intermittent wash of small things also going 
on. George Eliot, Middlemarch, iii. 24. 
2. Articles in the course of being cleansed by 
washing, or the quantity of clothes or other 
articles washed on one occasion. 
Military washes flapped and fluttered on the fences. 
L. M. Alcotl, Hospital Sketches, etc., p. 23. 
3. 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. 
Katie walks 
By the long wash of .\ustralasian seas. 
Tennyson, The Brook. 
4. The rougli or broken water left behind by a 
vessel as it moves along: as, the wash of the 
wash 
steamer nearly filled the boat. — 5. The licking 
or lapping noise made by rippling water as it 
comes in contact with a Vjoat, a pier, the strand, 
or the like ; the swish-swash of water disturbed 
as by wind or by ebb or flow. 
The water ebbs away with a sulky uiash in the hollow 
places. R. D. Blackmore, Maid of Sker, iiL 
6. 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. 
Half my power this night, 
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide ; 
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them. 
Shak., K. John, v. 6. 41. 
7. Substances collected and deposited by the 
action of water, such as alluvium. 
The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where 
rainwater hath a long time settled, is of great advantage 
to all land. Mortimer, Husbandry. 
The debris-piles which stretch along the lower slopes 
of the ranges in the Cordilleran Region are locally known 
as washes. J. D. Whitney, Names and Places, p. 125. 
8. 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. 
The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar . . . 
Swills your warm blood like wash. 
Shak., Rich. III., v. 2. 9. 
Wrinkles like troughs, where swine-deformity swills 
The tears of perjury, that lie there like wash 
Fallen from the slimy and dishonest eye. 
Middleton and Rowley, Changeling, ii. 1. 
9. In distilling: (a) The fermented wort, from 
which the spirit is extracted. The grain ground 
and infused is called the mash, the decanted liquor is 
called the wort, and the wort when fermented becomes 
the wash, (ft) A mixture of dunder, molasses, 
scummings, and water, used in the West Indies 
for distillation. Bryan Edwards. — 10. A liquid 
used for application to a surface or a body to 
cleanse it, color it, or the like — especially a 
thin and watei'y liquid, as distinguished from 
one that is glutinous or oily. Speciflcally — (a) A 
liquid used for toilet purposes, such as a cosmetic, a liquid 
dentifrice, or a hair-wash. 
My eyes are none of the best since I have used the last 
new wash of mercury-water. 
Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iv. 2. 
It [modesty] renders the face delightfully handsome ; 
is not subject to be rubbed off, and cannot be paralleled 
by either wash, powder, cosmetic, etc. 
■" Addison, Spectator, No. 547. 
(6) In med., a lotion, (c) A thin even coating of color 
spread over a surface, as of a painting. See del. IL 
There is no handsomeness 
But has a teash of pride and luxury. 
Fletcher (and another?), Nice Valour, iii. 8. 
By this is scene who lives by faith and certain knowledge, 
and who by credulity and the prevailing opinion of the 
age ; whose vertue is an unchangeable grainc, and whose 
of a slight icash. Milton, Church-Government, i. 7. 
(d) In zoiil., a light or slight surface-coloration, as if laid 
over a ground-color : a superficial tone or tinge : as, a 
frosty wash over black, (e) A thin coat of metal applied 
to anything for beauty or preservation. 
11. In water-color painting, the application of 
a pigment so mixed as to be in a very fluid con- 
dition, or a coat so applied, it is usually a very thin 
and transparent coat, applied quickly with a large brush, 
flat and often gradated so as to be darker at one edge than 
at the opposite edge, or to shade off without mark of sepa- 
ration from one tint into another. 
12. The blade of an oar. — 13. A measure of 
shell-fish ; a stamped measure capable of hold- 
ing 21 quarts and a pint of water. 
"I buy my winks," said one, "at Billingsgate, at3j>. and 
4s. the wash." A wash is about a bushel. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 78. 
Each smack takes about 40 teash of whelks with her for 
the voyage. Kticyc. Brit., IX. 2.56. 
14. 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 com- 
modity from one principal to the other and 
pockets the difference, instead of executing 
both orders separately to the best advantage 
in each case, as is required by the rules of the 
different exchanges. [Stock-exchange slang.] 
— Black wash. See Uackwash. —Eye-wasil, collyri- 
um. — Rain- wash, (a) a washing along or away by the 
force of rain ; displacement effected by rainfall. 
He was sceptical as to the Lieustrine origin of these 
breccias. Why not subaerial, like those in the interior of 
Asia? — snbangular masses, transported by raintcash to a 
distance of 10 or 12 miles. 
II'. L. Blanford. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. XLV. 38. 
