Word Direct Answers

What does "wipe" mean?

Wipe: To rub with something soft for cleaning; to clean or dry by rubbing; as, to wipe the hands or face with a towel. Let me wipe thy face. Shak. I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 2 Kings xxi.

Additional senses

  1. 2.2. To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; -- usually followed by away, off or out. Also used figuratively. "To wipe out our ingratitude." Shak. Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon. Milton.
  2. 3.To cheat; to defraud; to trick; -- usually followed by out. [Obs.] Spenser. If they by coveyne [covin] or gile be wiped beside their goods. Robynson (More's Utopia) To wipe a joint (Plumbing), to make a joint, as between pieces of lead pipe, by surrounding the junction with a mass of solder, applied in a plastic condition by means of a rag with which the solder is shaped by rubbing. -- To wipe the nose of, to cheat. [Old Slang]
  3. 4.Act of rubbing, esp. in order to clean.
  4. 5.A blow; a stroke; a hit; a swipe. [Low]
  5. 6.A gibe; a jeer; a severe sarcasm. Swift.
  6. 7.A handkerchief. [Thieves' Cant or Slang]
  7. 8.Stain; brand. [Obs.] "Slavish wipe." Shak.

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