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Synonyms

wash up

British  

verb

  1. to wash (dishes, cutlery, etc) after a meal

  2. (intr) to wash one's face and hands

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the end, outcome of a process

    in the washup, three candidates were elected
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
wash up Idioms  

  1. Wash one's hands and face, as in It's time to wash up for dinner . [First half of 1900s] Also see clean up , def. 2.

  2. Clean the utensils after a meal, as in I'll cook dinner if you promise to wash up . [Mid-1700s] Also see do the dishes .

  3. Bring about the end or ruin of; finish. This usage is often used put in the passive, be washed up , as in She's all washed up as a singer . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Detainees were being served food on paper clam-shell to-go boxes, rather than regular trays, a staffer said, because the facility lacked employees to wash up at the end of mealtimes.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2025

On Monday HM Coastguard said some were beginning to wash up around The Wash – a large inlet of the North Sea stretching from just south of Skegness to near Hunstanton, in Norfolk.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2025

"It was always going to wash up here."

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2025

Storm Darragh ripped the bench erected in memory of Bill Batcock from its base on Anglesey in December - only for it to wash up months later on a beach in Cumbria.

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2025

It was time to wash up for dinner.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.