wash up
Britishverb
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to wash (dishes, cutlery, etc) after a meal
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(intr) to wash one's face and hands
noun
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Wash one's hands and face, as in It's time to wash up for dinner . [First half of 1900s] Also see clean up , def. 2.
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Clean the utensils after a meal, as in I'll cook dinner if you promise to wash up . [Mid-1700s] Also see do the dishes .
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Bring about the end or ruin of; finish. This usage is often used put in the passive, be washed up , as in She's all washed up as a singer . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He worries that even more detritus will wash up on the beach in the future.
From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026
Detainees were being served food on paper clam-shell to-go boxes, rather than regular trays, a staffer said, because the facility lacked employees to wash up at the end of mealtimes.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2025
About 62,000 items wash up on the beach each year, much of it from the waterways in and around Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city.
From BBC • Feb. 2, 2025
Ludovico recommends visitors drive a few miles from the wash up Big Tujunga Canyon Road to Vogel Flats, which is part of the Angeles National Forest.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 15, 2024
“Why don’t you go wash up for dinner. The sooner you’re through eating and off to bed, the sooner tomorrow will be here.”
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
