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.

Noun

(en noun)

A spherically contained volume of air or other gas, especially one made from soapy liquid.

A small spherical cavity in a solid material.

bubbles in window glass, or in a lens

Anything resembling a hollow sphere.

(economics) A period of intense speculation in a market, causing prices to rise quickly to irrational levels as the metaphorical bubble expands, and then fall even more quickly as the bubble bursts (eg the ).

(obsolete) Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.

* Prior

Granny's a cheat, and I'm a bubble .

* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1979, p. 15:

For no woman, sure, will plead the passion of love for an excuse. This would be to own herself the mere tool and bubble of the man.

(figurative) The emotional and/or physical atmosphere in which the subject is immersed; circumstances, ambience.

* {{quote-news, year=2012

, date=June 3 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992) citation , page= , passage=He’s wrapped up snugly in a cozy bubble of self-regard, talking for his own sake more than anyone else’s.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2011

, date=January 23 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Thomas, so often West Brom's most positive attacker down their left side and up against Salgado, twice almost burst the bubble of excitement around the ground but he had two efforts superbly saved by Robinson.}}

(Cockney rhyming slang) a Greek (also: bubble and squeak)

A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.

The globule of air in the spirit tube of a level.

Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.

* Shakespeare

Then a soldier / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouth.

(Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh. (also: bubble bath)

Are you having a bubble ?!