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Soak vs Wash - What's the difference?

soak | wash |

As a verb soak

is (label) to be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.

As a noun soak

is an immersion in water etc.

As an initialism wash is

.

soak

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (label) To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.
  • * Bible, (w) xxiv. 7
  • Their land shall be soaked with blood.
  • (label) To immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation.
  • (label) To penetrate or permeate by saturation.
  • * Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • The rivulet beneath soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow.
  • (label) To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take in, receive. (usually + up )
  • * {{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}
  • To drink intemperately or gluttonously.
  • (label) To heat a metal before shaping it.
  • To hold a kiln at a particular temperature for a given period of time.
  • (label) To absorb; to drain.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • An immersion in water etc.
  • * "After the climb, I had a nice long soak in a bath."
  • (slang, British) A drunkard.
  • (Australia) A low-lying depression that fills with water after rain.
  • * 1985 , (Peter Carey), Illywhacker , Faber & Faber 2003, p. 38:
  • I set off early to walk along the Melbourne Road where, one of the punters had told me, there was a soak with plenty of frogs in it.

    Anagrams

    * * * English ergative verbs

    wash

    English

    Verb

  • To clean with water.
  • To move or erode by the force of water in motion.
  • Heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.
  • (mining) To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.
  • To clean oneself with water.
  • To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.
  • Waves wash the shore.
  • * Milton
  • fresh-blown roses washed with dew
  • * Longfellow
  • [the landscape] washed with a cold, grey mist
  • To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.
  • (figuratively) To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.
  • * 2012 , (The Economist), Oct 13th 2012 issue, The Jordan and its king: As beleaguered as ever
  • The king is running out of ideas as well as cash. His favourite shock-absorbing tactic—to blame his governments and sack his prime ministers—hardly washes .
  • To bear without injury the operation of being washed.
  • 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.
  • To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.
  • To overlay with a thin coat of metal.
  • steel washed with silver

    Usage notes

    In older works and possibly still in some dialects, wesh'' and ''woosh'' may be found as past tense forms. ''Washen may be found as a past participle.

    Derived terms

    * dishwasher * jetwash * wash away * wash down * washed up / all washed up * washer * wash off * wash one's hands of * wash out * wash over * wash up

    Noun

    (washes)
  • The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.
  • I'm going to have a quick wash before coming to bed.
    My jacket needs a wash .
  • A liquid used for washing.
  • The quantity of clothes washed at a time.
  • There's a lot in that wash : maybe you should split it into two piles.
  • (arts) A smooth and translucent .
  • The sound of breaking of the seas, e.g., on the shore.
  • I could hear the wash of the wave.
  • The wake of a moving ship.
  • The ship left a big wash
    Sail away from the wash to avoid rocking the boat.
  • The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.
  • A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.
  • mouth wash
    hand wash
  • Ground washed away to the sea or a river.
  • * Mortimer
  • The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled.
  • A piece of ground washed by the action of water, or sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the shallowest part of a river, or arm of the sea; also, a bog; a marsh.
  • * Shakespeare
  • These Lincoln washes have devoured them.
  • A shallow body of water.
  • In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi.
  • * 1997 , Stanley Desmond Smith, et al. Physiological Ecology of North American Desert Plants, Nature
  • In some desert-wash systems (which have been termed “xero-riparian”)
  • * 1999 , Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert
  • ... though the wash may carry surface water for only a few hours a year.
  • * 2005 , Le Hayes, Pilgrims in the Desert: The Early History of the East Mojave Desert
  • Rock Spring Wash' continues a short distance then joins Watson '''Wash'''. Water from Rock Spring comes out of the boulder strewn ' wash and disappears into the sand
  • An situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.
  • * 2003 , David Brenner, I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup , page 100:
  • I knew that for every vote I cast for, say, the Republicans, some kid at a polling place nearby was casting his votes for the Democrats, so it was probably a wash or close to it.
  • Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.
  • A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.
  • A thin coat of metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.
  • (nautical) The blade of an oar.
  • The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.
  • Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.
  • Derived terms

    * backwash * come out in the wash * car wash * mouthwash * wash and brushup * wash sale * washout * whitewash

    Anagrams

    * *

    See also

    * WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) 1000 English basic words