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Waist vs Wash - What's the difference?

waist | wash |

As a noun waist

is the part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.

As an initialism wash is

.

waist

English

Alternative forms

* (l), (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
  • A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
  • The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
  • The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
  • (nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
  • * 1851 ,
  • There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist .

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from waist) * pantywaist * waistband * waistcoat * waistless * waistline

    Anagrams

    * *

    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