(a) To do household washing or cleaning [quot. c1400(?a1387)]; wash (sth.) in or with water or other liquid, clean by scrubbing, rinsing, soaking, etc. in liquid; wash (a dish, vessel); also, wash (sth., a vessel) for purposes of ritual purity; also in fig. context; (b) to clean, exsanguinate, or season (meat, shellfish, an animal carcass, etc.) for use as food by rinsing or soaking it in a liquid; also, cleanse (meat, etc.) for ritual use; (c) to cleanse (cloth, clothing, a garment, wool, etc.) in a liquid, wash, rinse; also fig. & in fig. context; wash (clothing) for the purpose of ritual purity; ~ clene; ~ (clene) oute of, rinse (cloth, clothing) free of (a substance, excess dye, etc.); (d) to remove (a stain) by washing; ~ awei (of, oute), wash away (a stain, blood, sweat, etc.), rinse away; also in fig. context.

(a) To cleanse oneself or a part of one’s body with water, bathe, wash; wash one’s hands or face, esp. before or after a meal, wash up; also, wash a part of someone else’s body [quot. a1450 Yk.Pl.]; (b) to bathe (sb., a part of the body, a corpse, the wounds of a corpse, etc.) in or with a liquid or cleansing substance, wash, cleanse; also in fig. context; also, wash (sb., one’s body, etc.) for ritual purposes; of Mary Magdalen: bathe (Jesus’ feet with tears); ~ clene (clenli, faire, whit), wash (sb., a part of the body, etc.) clean, wash well; (c) refl. to wash oneself or a part of one’s body, bathe, wash up; (d) ben washen, to wash oneself; bathe, take a bath; (e) to wash (one’s hands) as a public and symbolic gesture of disavowal of responsibility for an action about to be taken; freq. in fig. phrases: ~ hondes (amonges innocentes, ~ hondes amonges the unwemmede, forsake any involvement in iniquity; ~ (clene) hondes from, ~ hondes of, wash (one’s) hands of (a matter), disavow (one’s) involvement in or responsibility for, dissociate oneself from.

To wash (an animal, the feet of an animal), cleanse, rinse off; refl. of an animal: cleanse itself, bathe.

(a) Of water, a body of water: to cleanse; cleanse (sb. or sth.); ~ awei, of a liquid, tears, etc.: remove (filth, a bloodstain, etc.), wash away, obliterate; (b) of a substance: to serve as a cleansing agent.

(a) To cleanse spiritually [quots. 1st & c1450 Spec.Guy]; also, cleanse oneself through confession [quot. c1400(?c1380)]; purify (sb., oneself, one’s body, heart, etc.) spiritually, cleanse spiritually; ~ clene (whit); ~ from (of, oute of), purify (sb., oneself, the world, etc.) from (sin, an evil, etc.), purge of, cleanse of; (b) chiefly eccl. to purify (sb., one’s deeds) with a ritual or ceremonial cleansing; make (a place) ceremonially clean by appropriate rites; also, purify (sb., a soul) by the rite of baptism, baptize (sb.); (c) of a person, Christ, Christ’s blood, baptismal water, etc.: to expunge (sin, moral defilement, a fault, etc.), wash away; (d) of the Flood: to purge (the world of wicked deeds); eliminate (a race of evildoers); wash away (sin, the works of evil); also, of God: cleanse (wickedness in the world) by means of the Flood.

Chiefly med. (a) to bathe a wound (with a medicinal substance) [quot. c1475(1392)]; bathe (an afflicted person, animal, body, bodily member, etc.) with a therapeutic substance;—also refl.; clean (a wound, sore, etc.), treat by bathing, soaking, or swabbing (with a medicated or soothing liquid, medicinal substance, etc.), anoint; also in fig. context; (b) to cause purging; also, purge (the stomach, guts, etc.), cause to discharge; clean out (a bodily member); (c) to cleanse (a diseased body or condition with a miraculous rod), heal; fig. wash (the faces of souls free of the leprosy of sin); of the River Jordan: cleanse (sb. of leprosy); ~ awei, of a miraculous water: wash away (a leprous condition), cure; (d) ppl. washinge, mundifying, cleansing.

(a) To purify (a substance) by mixing it with water and draining it, clarify, flush; also, reduce the causticity of (lime, turpentine, etc.) by mixing it with water and draining it, slake; ppl. washen, purified, clarified; slaked; (b) to extract (a residue from a pigment) by flushing with water; also, extract impurities from (blood) by mixing with water [1st quot.]; ?dilute (blood) [2nd quot.]; (c) ?to purify (a dye) by adding lye; (d) alch. to purify (a substance) in the process of creating the philosophers’ stone.

(a) To wet (sth., a part of the body) with a liquid, moisten, drench, suffuse; immerse (sth.) in a liquid, soak; treat (leather) by soaking it in a liquid solution; of rain: drench (sb.); of water: inundate (the world), flood; ~ bok in mire, fig. relegate (one’s) studies to the dungheap; ben washen, be moistened, soaked, etc.; also, of a star: be submerged (in the sea); of a banner: be wet (with blood); washen bran, ?soaked bran, mash, swill; ?error for *mash-bran n.; washen lether, a piece of prepared leather; water-washen, drenched with water, water-soaked; (b) to coat (sth. with a liquid or semiliquid substance), smear; also, whitewash (sth.); (c) to treat (gold) with a corrosive so as to remove some of the metal, sweat.

Of a sea, waves: to wash up (against cliffs, rocks, etc.), break (upon rocks); also, wash over (a sandy shore) [1st quot.].

To nullify (a legal document), set aside.

In phrase: ~ awei, to disappear, pass away.

In surname.