Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WASH, n.

1. Alluvial matter; substances collected and deposited by water; as, the wash of a river.
2. A bog; a marsh; a fen. Neptune's salt wash. – Shak.
3. A cosmetic; as, a wash for the face, to help the complexion.
4. A lotion; a medical liquid preparation for external application.
5. A superficial stain or color. – Collier.
6. Waste liquor of a kitchen for hogs.
7. The act of washing the clothes of a family; or the whole quantity washed at once. There is a great wash, or a small wash.
8. With distillers, the fermentable liquor made by dissolving the proper subject for fermentation and distillation in common water. In the distillery of malt, the wash is made by mixing the water but, with the malt ground into meal. – Cyc.
9. The shallow part of a river, or arm of the sea; as, the washes in Lincolnshire. – Cyc.
10. The blade of an oar; the thin part which enters the water, and by whose impulse the boat is moved.
11. The color laid on a picture to vary its tints.
12. A substance laid on boards or other work for beauty or preservation.
13. A thin coat of metal.
14. In the West Indies, a mixture of dunder, melasses, water, and scummings, for distillation. – Edwards's West Indies.