📖 W — The English dictionary · page 6

wart — Everyday, meaning 1: A wart is a small, hard, rough lump that grows on the skin, often on hands or feet, caused by a virus.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A wart can be any small lump on a plant or animal's skin, like on a toad.↗ Example: I have a wart on my finger.↗ · Don't pick at a wart; it can spread.↗ · The doctor froze the wart to remove it.↗ · Wear flip-flops in the changing room to avoid a verruca, a wart on the foot.↗ · The witch in the picture had a wart on her nose.↗ · Toads have bumpy skin, but you can't catch warts from them.↗ · He told the story of his trip, warts and all.↗ · Warthogs have lumps on their faces that look like warts.↗

warthog — Everyday, meaning 1: A warthog is a wild pig of the African grasslands with a big flat head, long curved tusks, a thin mane and lumpy bumps on its face that look like warts.↗ Example: The warthog knelt down to eat the short grass.↗ · Warthogs back into their burrows so their tusks face outwards.↗ · Pumbaa from «The Lion King» is a warthog.↗ · A warthog ran with its tail sticking straight up like an aerial.↗ · The bumps on a warthog's face protect it in fights.↗ · Lions sometimes hunt warthogs.↗

wartime — Everyday, meaning 1: Wartime is a period when a country is at war.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: As an adjective, wartime means happening in or belonging to such a time: «wartime food».↗ Example: In wartime, food was rationed.↗ · Children were evacuated to the countryside in wartime.↗ · Grandma remembers her wartime childhood.↗ · We tasted a wartime recipe with no eggs.↗ · Wartime posters told people to save food.↗ · The museum shows wartime toys.↗ · Many things were scarce in wartime.↗

warty — Everyday, meaning 1: Warty means covered with warts, small hard lumps on the skin.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Warty means having a lumpy, bumpy surface like warts.↗ Example: The warty toad sat under a stone.↗ · The witch in the story had a warty green nose.↗ · Some pumpkins are warty and bumpy.↗ · The warty newt has rough, dark skin.↗ · Toads are warty, but frogs are usually smooth.↗ · The old tree had a warty, knobbly trunk.↗ · The goblin rubbed his warty hands together.↗ · A ridge of inky water rushed foaming mountainously on his board, and behind that ridge came a vast warty head that gurgled and groaned.↗

wary — Everyday, meaning 1: Careful and a little worried because something might be dangerous or tricky.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Not quick to trust someone or something: «wary of strangers».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Watchful, keeping an eye out for trouble.↗ Example: The cat was wary of the new dog and stayed on the shelf.↗ · Be wary of emails that ask for your password.↗ · The deer gave us a wary look and ran into the trees.↗ · Mum is wary of buying things from pop-up adverts.↗ · I was a bit wary of the big slide at first.↗ · The lifeguard kept a wary eye on the swimmers near the rocks.↗ · Pupils should be wary of websites that promise free prizes.↗ · "Be wary," said the king, "there are men within the stable, let us get at them somehow."↗

wash — Everyday, meaning 1: To clean something or someone with water and usually soap.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To be carried by water.↗ e.g. "The boat washed ashore."↗ Everyday, meaning 3: As a noun, an act of washing.↗ e.g. "Give the car a wash."↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Clothes that are being washed.↗ e.g. "in the wash".↗ Example: Wash your hands before lunch.↗ · I washed the dishes after dinner.↗ · Your shirt is in the wash.↗ · Waves washed the sandcastle away.↗ · Wash the fruit before you eat it.↗ · We give the dog a wash on Sundays.↗ · Wash a cut with clean water.↗ · Put your clothes in the washing machine.↗ · "Come and wash with me," he said.↗ · And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; (Torah EXO.30.19, JPS 1917)↗ · that Moses and Aaron and his sons might wash their hands and their feet thereat; (Torah EXO.40.31, JPS 1917)↗ · But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.↗ (Torah LEV.17.16, JPS 1917)↗ · Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.↗ (Writings PSA.51.4, JPS 1917)↗ · O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.↗ (Prophets JER.4.14, JPS 1917)↗ · If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; (Writings JOB.9.30, JPS 1917)↗

washable — Everyday, meaning 1: Washable means it can be washed without being damaged.↗ Example: We use washable paint in art class.↗ · This jumper is machine washable.↗ · Luckily, the marker on the wall was washable.↗ · Washable crayons are good for little children.↗ · The rug is not washable, so we vacuum it.↗ · Check the label to see if it's washable.↗

washboard — Everyday, meaning 1: A board with ridges on it, once used for scrubbing clothes when washing them by hand.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A washboard used as a musical instrument, played by scraping it, in skiffle and folk music.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) Washboard stomach: very flat, strong stomach muscles.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A bumpy dirt road with ridges is called washboard road (North America).↗ Example: Grandma's grandma scrubbed shirts on a washboard.↗ · Toad tried to wash the clothes but splashed everywhere.↗ · The skiffle band had a guitar and a washboard.↗ · The museum had an old tin washboard.↗ · The dirt road was like a washboard.↗ · He scraped the washboard with thimbles on his fingers.↗

washed — Everyday, meaning 1: Washed means made clean with water, often with soap.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Washed means carried along by water or waves, as in washed away or washed up.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Washed out means pale and tired, or (of a game) cancelled because of rain.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Washed up (informal) means no longer successful.↗ Example: Have you washed your hands?↗ · I washed the dishes after tea.↗ · The fruit was washed before we ate it.↗ · A dead jellyfish was washed up on the beach.↗ · The flood washed away the bridge.↗ · Our match was washed out by the rain.↗ · She looked pale and washed out after being ill.↗ · The waves washed it up on shore.↗ · And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.↗ (Torah LEV.8.6, JPS 1917)↗ · And he washed his face, and came out; and he refrained himself, and said: 'Set on bread.'↗ (Torah GEN.43.31, JPS 1917)↗ · And he washed the inwards and the legs, and made them smoke upon the burnt-offering on the altar.↗ (Torah LEV.9.14, JPS 1917)↗ · I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?↗ (Writings SNG.5.3, JPS 1917)↗ · Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency; (Writings PSA.73.13, JPS 1917)↗ · His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks; washed with milk, and fitly set.↗ (Writings SNG.5.12, JPS 1917)↗

washer — Everyday, meaning 1: A small flat ring of metal, rubber or plastic put under a nut or a screw, or inside a tap, to make it tight or stop leaks.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A washing machine, or a dishwasher.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A person who washes things, as in "window washer" or "car washer".↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (Australia, New Zealand) A small square cloth for washing your face, called a flannel in the UK and a washcloth in the USA.↗ Example: Dad fixed the dripping tap by changing the washer.↗ · Put a washer under the nut before you tighten it.↗ · My muddy football kit went straight into the washer.↗ · The window washer cleaned the shop windows.↗ · In Australia, Mum handed me a washer to wipe my face.↗ · The kit came with ten screws and ten washers.↗ · He was the son of the royal plate-washer.↗

washerman — Everyday, meaning 1: A washerman is a man whose job is washing other people's clothes.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In an old saying, «a washerman's donkey» is a silly or put-upon creature, used as a joke about being made to do someone else's work.↗ Example: Do you take me for a washerman's donkey?↗ · The hare gravely replied, «This is a washerman's donkey.»↗ · The shark did not like being laughed at and asked what the joke about a washerman's donkey meant.↗

washerwife — Early Modern English, meaning 1: A woman whose work is washing clothes for other people.↗ Example: And he caused the old washerwife and her daughter to be burnt.↗ (More English Fairy Tales) · And he caused the auld washerwife and her dochter to be burned.↗ (The Blue Fairy Book) · At seven years' end she got her iron shoon, clomb the glassy hill, and chanced to come to the old washerwife's habitation.↗ (More English Fairy Tales)

washerwoman — Everyday, meaning 1: A woman whose job, in the past, was washing other people's clothes and sheets by hand, for money.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In The Wind in the Willows, Toad escapes from prison disguised as a washerwoman, wearing the gaoler's daughter's aunt's cotton dress, shawl and bonnet.↗ Example: The washerwoman carried a big basket of sheets down to the river.↗ · Toad dressed up as a washerwoman to get out of the prison.↗ · The washerwoman's hands were red from the hot water and soap.↗ · In Victorian times, many poor women worked as washerwomen.↗ · The barge-woman laughed when she saw that the washerwoman could not wash a single shirt.↗ · The gaoler's daughter's aunt was a washerwoman.↗ · Old pictures show a washerwoman scrubbing clothes on a washboard.↗ · The old washerwoman put her head in at the door, and nodded to him quite kindly, and said, "Many thanks, you good child, for your help yesterday.↗

washeth — Early Modern English, meaning 1: «washeth» means «washes», a form of «wash».↗ e.g. To clean something or someone with water and usually soap.↗ Example: Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washeth his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes;↗ (Torah GEN.49.11, JPS 1917)

washing — Everyday, meaning 1: Washing is cleaning something with water, often with soap.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Washing (UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland) means the clothes that need washing or have just been washed: «hang out the washing».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: As part of the verb, washing means cleaning now: «I am washing my hands».↗ Example: Washing your hands stops germs spreading.↗ · Mum is hanging the washing on the line.↗ · Put your dirty socks in the washing basket.↗ · I am washing the car with Dad.↗ · It's my turn to do the washing-up.↗ · The washing machine is very noisy.↗ · Bring the washing in — it's raining!↗ · We were washing paint off our brushes.↗ · Aunt Em was washing the dishes.↗ · And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be dim after the washing thereof, then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof.↗ (Torah LEV.13.56, JPS 1917)↗ · Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.↗ (Writings SNG.6.6, JPS 1917)↗ · Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes all shaped alike, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.↗ (Writings SNG.4.2, JPS 1917)↗

washpot — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A basin or pot for washing, such as feet or hands.↗ Example: Moab is my washpot; upon Edom do I cast my shoe; Philistia, cry aloud because of me!↗ (Writings PSA.60.10, JPS 1917)↗ · Moab is my washpot; upon Edom do I cast my shoe; over Philistia do I cry aloud.↗ (Writings PSA.108.10, JPS 1917)↗

washroom — Everyday, meaning 1: (Canada, US) A room with toilets and washbasins; a toilet or restroom.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A room for washing, or for laundry in some buildings.↗ Example: May I please go to the washroom?↗ · The washrooms are down the hall on the left.↗ · Wash your hands after using the washroom.↗ · The camp had a washroom with showers.↗ · The school is cleaning the washrooms today.↗ · Is there a washroom at the station?↗

wasp — Everyday, meaning 1: A wasp is a flying insect with a thin waist and yellow and black stripes; it can sting.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Wasps live in nests (often made from chewed wood that looks like paper) and many of them live together in a colony.↗ Example: A wasp landed on my sandwich.↗ · Stay calm and walk away slowly from a wasp.↗ · Don't poke a wasps' nest.↗ · Wasps can sting more than once.↗ · Check your drink can for wasps before you sip in summer.↗ · My arm swelled after a wasp sting.↗ · Wasps make nests out of chewed wood.↗ · Wasps help gardens by eating caterpillars and flies.↗ · Now Gopani-Kufa had a wasp called Zengi-mizi.↗

wast — Early Modern English, meaning 1: You were; a form of "be" used with "thou".↗ Example: And He said: 'Who told thee that thou wast naked?↗ (Torah GEN.3.11, JPS 1917) · I did not know that thou wast anything more than a herdsboy.↗ (The Jungle Book) · Of the Rock that begot thee thou wast unmindful, and didst forget God that bore thee.↗ (Torah DEU.32.18, JPS 1917)

wastage — Everyday, meaning 1: The amount of something that is wasted or lost.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The act of wasting.↗ Example: The school is trying to cut food wastage at lunch.↗ · A dripping tap causes a lot of water wastage.↗ · We cut a 50 cm board into 3 pieces of 15 cm, with 5 cm of wastage.↗ · Wastage in the factory was very low.↗ · Buying too much fruit led to wastage.↗ · Builders allow for some wastage of tiles.↗