A Dictionary of Cont..

washing 548
washerwoman. American usage only permits
washwoman as well. The word is being largely
replaced by the more elegant laundress and perhaps
justifiably so, as the heavier, dirtier work
that used to be a part of the week’s or season’s
wnshirzg is now sent to the laundry and the dry
cleaners, leaving only the lighter and finer things
(which were properly handled by a laundress
instead of a washerwoman) to be done at home.
To say washlady is to speak vulgarly in England
or America.
In America washout describes a washing out
of earth by water, as from an embankment or a
roadway by heavy rain or by a freshet, or the
hole or break so produced. As a figurative slang
term, washout in America means a failure or
fiasco (The whole dramatic production was 4
washout). In England washout is a special term
in mining engineering.
washing. See ablution.
washing dirty linen in poblic. As a term for those
who in mutual recriminations reveal matters,
especially family matters, discreditable to themselves
and expose to public view things that in
decency should be kept private, washing their
dirty linen in public is now a clicht.
washing one’s hands of something. As a term for
a public disavowal of all further connection with
some enterprise or the disowning of all association
with some person, washing one’s hands of
the matter or business is a clichC. It is derived, in
English, from Pilate’s washing his hands in public
as a sign of his refusal to accept responsibility
for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; yet from the
very manner in which Pilate performed this
ablution it is apparent that the term and the
ritualistic nature of the act were established.
wastage; waste. Wastage is neutral, waste (except
in a number of technical applications) deprecatory.
Wastage means loss by use, wear, or decay
(A certain amount must be allowed for wastage).
Waste, in common everyday usage, means
useless consumption or expenditure, or use without
adequate return (Zt is 4 waste of time to
listen to him).
waste your breath. Used commonly in some negative
adjuration, as an assurance that speech,
usually of persuasion or admonition, will be
vain, to waste your breath is hackneyed.
wastebasket is now standard and almost universal
in American usage, though the longer form,
wastepaper basket, still used in England, is
known and used occasionally in the United
States.
watch. This verb may be followed by an object
and the -ing form of a verb, as in Z watched them
working, or by an object and the simple form of
a verb, as in Z watched them work.
watchword. See slogan.
water; waters. Water is a mass noun and in everyday
English does not have a plural form. But
the plural waters was formerly used, and may
still be used, in certain limited senses.
The ulural form is alwavs used in sneaking of
the seas belonging to a paiticular nation or in a
particular part of the. globe, as in American
waters and southern waters. It is also used in
figurative expressions such as deep waters and
troubled waters.
The plural form is still used occasionally in
speaking of mineral water, as it is in it is long,
very long, Mr. Pickwick, since you drank the
waters. It may be used in poetry or dramatic
prose in speaking of large bodies of flowing water,
as in like waters shot from some high crag
and the waters of the Danube.
Formerly, the plural form was used in speaking
of a flood as in the waters had risen. This is
now felt to be artificial or bookish. The amniotic
fluid was also called the waters. We now speak
of it as the water, and waters is considered old
fashioned or dialectal.
water, of the first. Used figuratively, as a designation
of the highest worth, the expression of
the first water, drawn from a now outmoded
classification of the quality of diamonds, is a
clichC.
water under the bridge (and over the dam). As
a way of saying that much has happened since
a certain event took place, much water has
flowed under the bridge since then is a clichC.
The water seems to be the stream of time or life,
the bridge, perhaps, the bridge of sighs. It’s all
very mystical and tedious. Water under the
bridge, by the way, is not to be confused with
water over the dam which is a term for something
that has happened and cannot be recalled.
It, too, is a cliche. Every now and then some
luckless orator blends the two.
watershed; divide. Watershed is chiefly English
in the sense of the ridge or crest line dividing
two drainage areas, a water parting. Americans
usually say divide. In both England and America
watershed is also used to describe the region or
area drained by a river, a drainage area (A
number of government dams have been built in
the Tennessee River watershed).
wave. See waive.
wave of optimism. As a term for an access of
courage or a widespread renewal of hope, 4
wave of optimism is hackneyed. It always
“sweeps through” the group referred to.
wax. When this is a verb meaning grow or become
it may be followed by an adjective describing
the subject, as in it waxed lute, it waxed cool. It
may also be followed by an adverb describing
the waxing, as in it waxed steadily worse.
way. The noun wny may be used as an adverb to
show direction or manner, as in step this way
and do it your own way, Shakespeare uses the
form ways to show direction in what cursed foot
wanders this ways tonight?, but this is no longer
standard English.
The noun way may also be used as an adverb
showing distance, as in II long way from home
and he had come quite 4 way. In the United
States the form ways is also used in this sense,
as in a long wnys from home and quite 4 ways
inland. This construction has not been considered
standard in England for more than fifty years,
but it was used by most of the great writers of
English and is still standard in this country.