hand-wash

English

Noun

hand-wash (countable and uncountable, plural hand-washes)

1. (countable) Alternative form of hand wash (“washing by hand”).
   • 1909 November 13, G. E. Weston, “ A Trio.”, in Cage Birds & Bird World: The Leading Journal Devoted to Canaries, Hybrids, British & Foreign Cage & Wild Birds, volume XVI, number 409, London: F Carl , page 375, column 2:

     E.C.—Have you tried any remedies for the Goldfinch “stuck in the moult”? A very good one is to give a hand-wash in water considerably hotter than is used in the ordinary way, and not to afterward use cold water for rinsing purposes (it can be given without soap, if you like).

   • 1988, Bobbie Jean Thompson, “Caring for Your Scarves”, in Bobbie Jean Thompson’s Scarf Tying Magic, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 106:

     After the colors are set, a result of the first cleaning, then you should be able to do a hand-wash. I have hand-washed my wool scarves, but you MUST be very careful.

   • 2002 October/November, Dan Madsen, quoting Lesley Earl-Templeton, “The Fabric of Middle-earth”, in The Lord of the Rings Fan Club Official Movie Magazine, number 5, Norfolk, Va.: Decipher Fan Club Studio, pages 62–63:

     The most challenging thing I’ve worked on is what I did last week: I worked on Arwen’s wall hanging for her bedroom at Rivendell. That was big! It was huge and it utilized a really fine piece of fabric. It was 2 meters wide by 1.8 meters high. It was made of silk, which I had to do a hand-wash on.

   • 2009, Jenny Hart, “ Laundering and Care”, in Embroidered Effects: Projects and Patterns to Inspire Your Stitching (Sublime Stitching), San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 145:

     hand washing: If you’re at all concerned about the sturdiness of your embroidered textile, do a hand-wash in a clean basin with lukewarm water and a fabric-friendly soap (see Resources, page 149).

   • 2013, Allison Lynn, The Exiles: A Novel, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: New Harvest, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 56:

     She slid into her pants, tossed her underwear aside — they had only the clothes that they’d worn yesterday and would have to do a hand-wash soon — and pulled her tank top over her head.

2. (countable) Alternative form of hand wash (“washing one’s hands”).
   • , Gurudatta Vidyarthi, “Criticism on Monier Williams’ ‘Indian Wisdom’”, in Om: Wisdom of the Rishis or Works of Gurudatta Vidyarthi M. A., 3rd edition, Delhi: Sarvadeshik Pustakalaya, →OCLC, page 366:

     Let no one eat from the same dish with any one else, let none overfeed himself and walk out after dinner without a hand-wash.

   • 1989, Mike Walsh, Pauline Ford, “The prevention of infection”, in Nursing Rituals, Research and Rational Actions, Oxford, Oxon: Heinemann Nursing, →ISBN, part one (The Rituals of Clinical Practice), page 15:

     Nurses are required to wash their hands in various ways during a dressing; three hand-washes are not uncommon. Yet if the nurse’s hands are not to come into contact with the wound, is all this hand-washing really necessary?

   • 2007, Brian Beffort, “ Bathing in the Woods”, in Joy of Backpacking: Your Complete Guide to Attaining Pure Happiness in the Outdoors, 3rd printing, Birmingham, Ala.: Wilderness Press, published 2015, →ISBN, part V (Joy on the Trail), page 185, column 1:

     Refreshing face- and hand-washes are great ways to start or end each day. Every few days or so, the rest of your body will need some scrubbing, too.

3. (countable and uncountable) Alternative form of handwash (“liquid soap”).
   • 2003, Bill Goodrich, Tom McCormick, Nursing Home Ministry: Where Hidden Treasures Are Found, Avon Lake, Oh.: God Cares Ministry, →ISBN, page 56:

     Towelettes and waterless hand-washes are great items to carry with you for preventing the spread of infectious germs.

   • 2007, Angela Gorman, Every Woman’s Right: An Emotional Account of a Lifesaving Visit to Africa by a Welsh Nurse, Bloomington, Ind., Milton Keynes, Bucks.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, pages 173 and 234–235:

     In the corner of the cluttered room were some of the items we had brought, baby clothes, some of the bottles of hand-wash and lots more. […] Nic, who had bought extra bottles of hand-wash for me to take was about to go on annual leave herself and was spending all day Monday showing the ropes to an agency temp, also called Nic.

   • 2011, Muriel Claybrook with Rob Wensley, “ISA practice: testing hand-washes”, in Biology (AQA GCSE), Harlow, Essex: Longman, →ISBN, page 42, column 1:

     Scientists are investigating the best hand-wash to use in a hospital. Your task is to do an investigation to compare the effect of antiseptic-based hand-washes and soap-based hand-washes on the growth of bacterial colonies. […] A group of students, Study Group 1 , investigated how effective two different hand-washes were in killing bacteria. They decided to place a drop of each hand-wash onto an agar plate and measured the radius of the clear zone that appeared.

   • 2011, Joe Flatman, “ Going on Your First Archaeological Project”, in Becoming an Archaeologist: A Guide to Professional Pathways, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 55:

     Wet-wipes and antibacterial no-water gel hand-washes are the archaeologist’s friend on site.

Verb

hand-wash (third-person singular simple present hand-washes, present participle hand-washing, simple past and past participle hand-washed)

1. (transitive) Alternative form of hand wash.