wash v.
1. to adulterate liquor with water.
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 7: [T]he canteen sergeant supplied him with as much liquor as he could pay for after it was well washed, and the harm taken out of it,. |
2. (US Und.) to kill, to murder, to assassinate [fig. use of SE wash out].
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 4: Hit me if you dare! Ah’ll wash yo’ tub uh ’gator guts and dat quick. | |
| Carlito’s Way 32: If push comes to shove, we can wash him. | |
| Another Day in Paradise 137: I’ve got to slow down my using and drinking or I’ll get washed. | |
| ‘Grew Up In’ 🎵 Where the olders are washed and the young Gs out on the blocky want grief. |
3. to ‘de-criminalize’ corruptly or illegally gained money or some form of document (see cite 1874) by ‘washing’ it through a casino till or bank; thus wash-up, the act of ‘laundering’ money; washing machine, a place, e.g. a nightclub, used for this purpose[var. launder v.].
| [Arthur Pember] Mysteries and Miseries 317: Two young men, who are held by Colonel Whitely on a charge of ‘washing’ revenue-stamps to a large amount, boarded down-stairs . | |
 | Black Panther 30 June 2/2: The money had been ‘washed’ through the Mexican bank passing off as a legal fee to the Mexican lawyer in order to conceal the source of the donation. | |
| Under Cover 45: John Castelli was washing the money for them. Perhaps he tried to rip them off. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Between the Devlin 126: [L]ike most crime figures, [they] didn’t mind getting into a bit of heavy gambling to wash away a bit of black money. | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] [T]here was still an attractive tax break for investing in a meat-pie western, so he wouldn’t lose that much in the wash-up . | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] In five minutes Les had his money, and all nicely washed through a bookie so it looked like Les had won it at the races. | |
| Sun. Herald 16 Mar. 🌐 One money-laundering racket was exposed when an employee of a casino offered to wash money for a gangster who turned out to be an undercover police officer. | |
| ‘Straight and True’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 5 [TV script] Ain’t got your little spot for you to wash that dirty money. | |
| Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘The club’s a washing machine for Frankie Dellamorte’s money’. | |
| ‘Crime 101’ in Broken 72: He fences the rocks, washes the proceeds. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Rules of Revelation 341: ‘[W]e invested wisely. It was washed clean and our fee pumped into Catalyst and a few other businesses’. |
4. (drugs) to alter the properties of cocaine base by a chemical process.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | in Living Dangerously 97: We washed out a gram of it and had a bit. | |
| Crumple Zone 33: The guys are discussing the joys of household ammonia and the best way to wash rocks. |
In compounds
(US Und.) execution day.
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Wash day, execution day. |
a business used as an ostensibly legal ‘front’ for laundering illegally gained money.
| Killing Pool 71: We’ll be running a wire on the travel agency, too. Even preliminary checks show it’s likely being used as a major, major wash-house. |
In phrases
in fig. use, to overwhelm.
| Really the Blues 249: We felt too good to be upset by a puny police raid. It almost washed us away. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(gay) a phr. describing the act of leaving immediately after sex; also as adj.
| Bi Issue 10, Aug. 🌐 In the same week, ‘HIV Life’ (the HIV issues section of The Pink) told of The HIV Project’s (I think they mean the SIGMA Project) report on behavioural bisexuals. It got... one column inch focusing on the fact that one respondent described his encounters with men as ‘Wash and go sex.’. |
(W.I.) a woman’s last child.
| Countryman Karl Black 5: Although Miss Birdie loved all her children, she had a tender spot in her heart for the ‘wash-belly.’. |
liquor.
| Memoirs of the Late Capt. Hugh Crow 45: Massa Crow [...] me want you for give me some was’ mouth [...]I knew that ‘wash mouth’ meant a dram. |
(drugs) crack cocaine.
| Yardie 37: Set up maybe two houses [...] where we can make wash-rock. | |
| Curvy Lovebox 51: I need the fuckin’ wash rock yeah. |
(US) a boat.
| (con. WWII) Hollywoodland (1981) 72: Buddy, you wouldn’t catch me on no washtub out there in the drink. |
In phrases
to drink wine.
| DSUE (8th edn) 1309/2: Wash one’s brain, head, etc. to drink wine. |
see under tank n.1
see under ivory n.
to stop behaving in a cowardly manner.
| Dict. of Fr. and Eng. Tongues n.p.: Souhait, Wash thy milke off thy liuer (say we). |
to have a drink.
| Sporting Times 29 Mar. 1/4: Here, boys [...] come on down to the other bar and wash your mouths out. | |
| (con. c.1910) London Town 304: Like to wash yer mouth? I’ve touched lucky the last couple o’ days. |
(W.I.) to gossip about, to denigrate behind someone’s back.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | ‘Scrape Thru’ in Jamaica Dialect Verses 19: Dah ’oman Miss Matty gwine look shame yuh se’ / Meck she gwan wash har mout’ ’pon Nelly / For ole ’oman dah swear fe nyam peppa-pot / It dah swear fe hat har belly. | |
| Baby Mother and King of Swords 15: Old nyaga was washing them mouth pan me more than ever. |
to drink.
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 124: ‘To wash the Neck,’ — to swallow liquids. | |
| Le Slang 204: [...] put it down one’s neck. |
(W.I.) to beat, to thrash, to defeat comprehensively.
| Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. |
see separate entries.
see separate entries.
(W.I.) an impromptu dance, with no special dressing-up required.
| Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. |