wipe
Forms
- present (v1)
- wipe
- past (v2)
- wiped
- past participle (v3)
- wiped
- present participle
- wiping
- 3rd person singular
- wipes
- Plural
- wipes
Definitions
1.To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (Compare rub.)
- Melissa wiped her glasses with her shirt.
- I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.
- Tom started to wipe his eyes.
2.To smear (a substance) with this kind of motion.
- You've wiped grease all over your shirt.
3.To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out.
- So the plot is that he wipes half the population?
- Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon.
4.To clean (the anus, buttocks and/or genitals) after defecation or urination.
- I had nothing to wipe my bum with.
- Even if you wipe very carefully, you still have to wash your hands afterward.
1.The act of wiping something.
2.A soft piece of cloth or cloth-like material used for wiping.
3.A kind of film transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape.
4.A lapwing, especially a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2834
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Etymology
From Middle English wipen, from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, rub, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīpōn (“to wipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to twist, wind around”).