Stain vs. Wash

Stainnoun

A discoloured spot or area.

Washverb

To clean with water.

‘The car is so dirty, we need to wash it.’; ‘Dishwashers wash dishes much more efficiently than most humans.’;

Stainnoun

A blemish on one's character or reputation.

Washverb

(transitive) To move or erode by the force of water in motion.

‘Heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.’; ‘The flood washed away houses.’;

Stainnoun

A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.

Washverb

(mining) To separate valuable material (such as gold) from worthless material by the action of flowing water.

Stainnoun

A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.

Washverb

(intransitive) To clean oneself with water.

‘I wash every morning after getting up.’;

Stainnoun

(heraldry) Any of a number of non-standard tinctures used in modern heraldry.

Washverb

(transitive) To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.

‘Waves wash the shore.’;

Stainverb

(transitive) To discolour.

‘to stain the hand with dye’; ‘armour stained with blood’;

Washverb

(intransitive) To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.

‘to hear the water washing’;

Stainverb

To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation

Washverb

(intransitive) To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.

Stainverb

To coat a surface with a stain

‘to stain wood with acids, coloured washes, paint rubbed in, etc.’; ‘the stained glass used for church windows’;

Washverb

To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.

Stainverb

(intransitive) To become stained; to take a stain.

Washverb

(intransitive) To bear without injury the operation of being washed.

‘Some calicoes do not wash.’;

Stainverb

To treat (a microscopic specimen) with a dye, especially one that dyes specific features

Washverb

(intransitive) 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.

Stainverb

To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.

Washverb

To cover with a thin or watery coat of colour; to tint lightly and thinly.

Stainverb

To discolor by the application of foreign matter; to make foul; to spot; as, to stain the hand with dye; armor stained with blood.

Washverb

To overlay with a thin coat of metal.

‘steel washed with silver’;

Stainverb

To color, as wood, glass, paper, cloth, or the like, by processes affecting, chemically or otherwise, the material itself; to tinge with a color or colors combining with, or penetrating, the substance; to dye; as, to stain wood with acids, colored washes, paint rubbed in, etc.; to stain glass.

Washverb

(transitive) To cause dephosphorization of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.

Stainverb

To spot with guilt or infamy; to bring reproach on; to blot; to soil; to tarnish.

‘Of honor void,Of innocence, of faith, of purity,Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.’;

Washverb

(transitive) To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, especially by removing soluble constituents.

Stainverb

To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.

‘She stains the ripest virgins of her age.’; ‘That did all other beasts in beauty stain.’;

Washnoun

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.’;

Stainverb

To give or receive a stain; to grow dim.

Washnoun

A liquid used for washing.

Stainnoun

A discoloration by foreign matter; a spot; as, a stain on a garment or cloth.

Washnoun

A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.

‘mouth wash’; ‘hand wash’;

Stainnoun

A natural spot of a color different from the gound.

‘Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains.’;

Washnoun

The quantity of clothes washed at a time.

‘There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.’;

Stainnoun

Taint of guilt; tarnish; disgrace; reproach.

‘Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains.’; ‘Our opinion . . . is, I trust, without any blemish or stain of heresy.’;

Washnoun

(arts) A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.

Stainnoun

Cause of reproach; shame.

Washnoun

The sound of breaking of the seas, e.g., on the shore.

‘I could hear the wash of the wave.’;

Stainnoun

A tincture; a tinge.

‘You have some stain of soldier in you.’;

Washnoun

The wake of a moving ship.

‘The ship left a big wash’; ‘Sail away from the wash to avoid rocking the boat.’;

Stainnoun

a soiled or discolored appearance;

‘the wine left a dark stain’;

Washnoun

The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.

Stainnoun

(microscopy) a dye or other coloring material that is used in microscopy to make structures visible

Washnoun

Ground washed away to the sea or a river.

Stainnoun

the state of being covered with unclean things

Washnoun

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.

Stainnoun

a symbol of disgrace or infamy;

‘And the Lord set a mark upon Cain’;

Washnoun

A shallow body of water.

Stainnoun

an act that brings discredit to the person who does it;

‘he made a huge blot on his copybook’;

Washnoun

In arid and semi-arid regions, the normally dry bed of an intermittent or ephemeral stream; an arroyo or wadi.

Stainverb

color with a liquid dye or tint;

‘Stain this table a beautiful walnut color’; ‘people knew how to stain glass a beautiful blue in the middle ages’;

Washnoun

A situation in which losses and gains or advantages and disadvantages are equivalent; a situation in which there is no net change.

Stainverb

produce or leave stains;

‘Red wine stains the table cloth’;

Washnoun

A fictitious kind of sale of stock or other securities between parties of one interest, or by a broker who is both buyer and seller, and who minds his own interest rather than that of his clients.

Stainverb

make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically;

‘The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air’; ‘Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man’;

Washnoun

Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs; pigwash.

Stainverb

color for microscopic study;

‘The laboratory worker dyed the specimen’;

Washnoun

In distilling, the fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.

Stain

A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials.

Washnoun

A mixture of dunder, molasses, water, and scummings, used in the West Indies for distillation.

Washnoun

A thin coat of paint or metal laid on anything for beauty or preservation.

Washnoun

(nautical) The blade of an oar.

Washnoun

The backward current or disturbed water caused by the action of oars, or of a steamer's screw or paddles, etc.

Washnoun

Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.

Washnoun

(architecture) The upper surface of a member or material when given a slope to shed water; hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water.

‘a carriage wash in a stable’;

Washnoun

(television) A lighting effect that fills a scene with a chosen colour.

Washverb

To cleanse by ablution, or dipping or rubbing in water; to apply water or other liquid to for the purpose of cleansing; to scrub with water, etc., or as with water; as, to wash the hands or body; to wash garments; to wash sheep or wool; to wash the pavement or floor; to wash the bark of trees.

‘When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, . . . he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.’;

Washverb

To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten; hence, to overflow or dash against; as, waves wash the shore.

‘Fresh-blown roses washed with dew.’; ‘[The landscape] washed with a cold, gray mist.’;

Washverb

To waste or abrade by the force of water in motion; as, heavy rains wash a road or an embankment.

Washverb

To remove by washing to take away by, or as by, the action of water; to drag or draw off as by the tide; - often with away, off, out, etc.; as, to wash dirt from the hands.

‘Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.’; ‘The tide will wash you off.’;

Washverb

To cover with a thin or watery coat of color; to tint lightly and thinly.

Washverb

To overlay with a thin coat of metal; as, steel washed with silver.

Washverb

To cause dephosphorisation of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.

Washverb

To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, esp. by removing soluble constituents.

Washverb

To perform the act of ablution.

‘Wash in Jordan seven times.’;

Washverb

To clean anything by rubbing or dipping it in water; to perform the business of cleansing clothes, ore, etc., in water.

Washverb

To bear without injury the operation of being washed; as, some calicoes do not wash.

Washverb

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.

Washverb

To use washes, as for the face or hair.

Washverb

To move with a lapping or swashing sound, or the like; to lap; splash; as, to hear the water washing.

Washverb

to be accepted as true or valid; to be proven true by subsequent evidence; - usually used in the negative; as, his alibi won't wash.

Washnoun

The act of washing; an ablution; a cleansing, wetting, or dashing with water; hence, a quantity, as of clothes, washed at once.

Washnoun

A piece of ground washed by the action of a sea or river, or sometimes covered and sometimes left dry; the shallowest part of a river, or arm of the sea; also, a bog; a marsh; a fen; as, the washes in Lincolnshire.

‘These Lincoln washes have devoured them.’;

Washnoun

Substances collected and deposited by the action of water; as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc.

‘The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled.’;

Washnoun

Waste liquid, the refuse of food, the collection from washed dishes, etc., from a kitchen, often used as food for pigs.

Washnoun

The fermented wort before the spirit is extracted.

Washnoun

That with which anything is washed, or wetted, smeared, tinted, etc., upon the surface.

Washnoun

A liquid cosmetic for the complexion.

Washnoun

The blade of an oar, or the thin part which enters the water.

Washnoun

A liquid dentifrice.

Washnoun

The flow, swash, or breaking of a body of water, as a wave; also, the sound of it.

Washnoun

A liquid preparation for the hair; as, a hair wash.

Washnoun

Ten strikes, or bushels, of oysters.

Washnoun

A medical preparation in a liquid form for external application; a lotion.

Washnoun

Gravel and other rock débris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium.

Washnoun

A thin coat of color, esp. water color.

Washnoun

The dry bed of an intermittent stream, sometimes at the bottom of a cañon; as, the Amargosa wash, Diamond wash; - called also dry wash.

Washnoun

A thin coat of metal applied in a liquid form on any object, for beauty or preservation; - called also washing.

Washnoun

The upper surface of a member or material when given a slope to shed water. Hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water, as a carriage wash in a stable.

Washnoun

an action or situation in which the gains and losses are equal, or closely compensate each other.

Washnoun

the disturbance of the air left behind in the wake of a moving airplane or one of its parts.

Washadjective

Washy; weak.

‘Their bodies of so weak and wash a temper.’;

Washadjective

Capable of being washed without injury; washable; as, wash goods.

Washnoun

a thin coat of water-base paint

Washnoun

the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)

Washnoun

the dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a canyon)

Washnoun

the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water (as from a roadway);

‘from the house they watched the washout of their newly seeded lawn by the water’;

Washnoun

the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller

Washnoun

a watercolor made by applying a series of monochrome washes one over the other

Washnoun

garments or white goods that can be cleaned by laundering

Washnoun

any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out;

‘at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash’;

Washverb

clean with some chemical process

Washverb

cleanse (one's body) with soap and water

Washverb

cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water;

‘Wash the towels, please!’;

Washverb

move by or as if by water;

‘The swollen river washed away the footbridge’;

Washverb

be capable of being washed;

‘Does this material wash?’;

Washverb

admit to testing or proof;

‘This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court’;

Washverb

separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)

Washverb

apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to

Washverb

remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap or some other cleaning agent;

‘he washed the dirt from his coat’; ‘The nurse washed away the blood’; ‘Can you wash away the spots on the windows?’; ‘he managed to wash out the stains’;

Washverb

form by erosion;

‘The river washed a ravine into the mountainside’;

Washverb

make moist;

‘The dew moistened the meadows’;

Washverb

wash or flow against;

‘the waves laved the shore’;

Washverb

to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking;

‘The cat washes several times a day’;

Washverb

clean with water and, typically, soap or detergent

‘Auntie Lou had washed all their clothes’; ‘he washed down the woodwork in the kitchen’;

Washverb

clean oneself with soap and water

‘he reached for the soap and began to wash’;

Washverb

(with reference to a stain or dirt) remove or be removed by cleaning with water and detergent

‘the dirt on his clothes would easily wash out’; ‘all that hate can't wash away the guilt’; ‘they have to keep washing the mould off the walls’;

Washverb

(of fabric, a garment, or dye) withstand cleaning to a specified degree without shrinking or fading

‘a linen-mix yarn which washes well’;

Washverb

do one's laundry

‘I need someone to cook and wash for me’;

Washverb

wet or moisten (something) thoroughly

‘you are beautiful with your face washed with rain’;

Washverb

(of flowing water) carry (someone or something) in a particular direction

‘floods washed away the bridges’;

Washverb

be carried by flowing water

‘an oil slick washed up on the beaches’;

Washverb

(especially of waves) sweep or splash in a particular direction

‘the sea began to wash along the decks’;

Washverb

(of a river, sea, or lake) flow through or lap against (a country, coast, etc.)

‘offshore islands washed by warm blue seas’;

Washverb

sift metallic particles from (earth or gravel) by running water through it

‘the sand has been churned and washed by miners’;

Washverb

brush with a thin coat of dilute paint or ink

‘the walls were washed with shades of umber’;

Washverb

coat inferior metal with (a film of gold or silver from a solution)

‘copper washed with silver’;

Washverb

seem convincing or genuine

‘charm won't wash with this crew’;

Washnoun

an act of washing something or an instance of being washed

‘her hair needs a wash’;

Washnoun

a quantity of clothes needing to be or just having been washed

‘she hung out her Tuesday wash’;

Washnoun

the water or air disturbed by a moving boat or aircraft

‘the wash of a motorboat’;

Washnoun

the breaking of waves on a shore

‘the wash of waves on the pebbled beach’;

Washnoun

an inlet of the North Sea on the east coast of England between Norfolk and Lincolnshire.

Washnoun

a medicinal or cleansing solution

‘citrus-scented body wash’;

Washnoun

a layer of paint or metal spread thinly on a surface

‘the walls were covered with a pale lemon wash’;

Washnoun

silt or gravel carried by a stream or river and deposited as sediment.

Washnoun

a sandbank exposed only at low tide.

Washnoun

kitchen slops and other food waste fed to pigs.

Washnoun

malt fermenting in preparation for distillation.

Washnoun

a situation or result that is of no benefit to either of two opposing sides

‘the plan's impact on jobs would be a wash, creating as many as it costs’;