washy, a.
(ˈwɒʃɪ)
[f. wash n. or v. + -y1.]
† 1. Having too much moisture, water-logged. Of wind or weather: Bringing moisture or rain.
In quot. 1566 the word corresponds to Horace's plumbeus, lit. ‘leaden’, used app. for ‘depressing’.
| 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. ii. vi. H 6, Not lewde ambition vexethe here; nor washye southerne wynde. 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 133 Under this upper Clay lyes a mouldring washy Clay. 1661 Pepys Diary 24 Sept., We..found a most sad alteration in the roade by reason of last night's rains; they being now all dirty and washy. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 303 They..on the washie Oose deep Channels wore. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 216 In washy weather all the hay one can give to cattle will not make them thrive. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 40/2 Of places..some are..damp and washy, as are those which lie near Seas or Lakes. |
2. a. Of food, drink, etc.: Too much diluted, weak, sloppy, thin, watery.
| 1615 T. Adams England's Sickn. ii. 72 Meates of a washy and fluid nature. 1763 Museum Rust. I. 327 New oats are a washy food, owing to a crude humidity that abounds in them. 1825 E. Hewlett Cottage Comforts viii. 99 Common corn and washy potatoes. 1832–4 De Quincey Caesars Wks. 1862 IX. 133 note, By comparison with the washy tea breakfasts of most Englishmen. 1883 Harper's Mag. July 165/2 Serving pots of washy ale over the counter. |
| Comb. 1746 W. Thompson R.N. Adv. (1757) 42 The Flesh of such washy fed Sows is..flabby. |
b. fig. Of literary style, productions, utterances, etc.: Wanting in force or vigour, feeble, sloppy, thin.
| 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vii. xl, Being compelled by a deaf person..to repeat some very washy remark three or four times over. 1829 [see spewy a. 1 b]. 1831 Carlyle Ess., Schiller (1840) III. 21 note, Our English translation, one of the washiest, was executed..in Edinburgh by a ‘Lord of Session’. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such v. 113 This mixture of other persons' washy opinions. 1897 Mrs. Oliphant W. Blackwood I. 100 The publication altogether was a weak and washy production. |
3. Of the stomach: Having an accumulation of liquid and undigested food, relaxed.
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 47 But for such washie Tripes as mine then were, I held it no good meate. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 491 The physician who neglects the factor of dilatation because the stomach is not as blown out and washy as to force itself on his notice, has an imperfect comprehension of his case. |
4. Of colour, painting, etc.: Having too much ‘wash’, lacking body, weak, pale.
| a 1639 Wotton Surv. Educ. Reliq. (1651) 325 A palish Clearnesse, evenly and smoothly spread, not overthin and washie, but of a pretty solid consistence. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. xxv. 4 Christ putteth not upon his a washy colour of profession..but he dyeth them in grain, with true grace and holinesse. 1718 Ozell tr. Tournefort's Voy. I. 188 Four rows of Scales of a washy purple. 1785 H. Walpole Let. to H. S. Conway 6 Oct., Sir Joshua's washy Virtues make the Nativity a dark spot from the darkness of the Shepherds. 1811 Self Instructor 524 A middling full pencil, not too washy. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton ii, With a washy, but clean stencilled pattern on the walls. 1884 19th Cent. Feb. 355 The colours are washy and unimpressive. 1886 G. Allen Maimie's Sake xix, Blue eyes like hers..look so mild and gentle and washy. |
5. Of a horse or cow: Poor in quality or condition;
esp. liable to sweat or scour after slight exertion.
| 1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. i. iv. (1656) 40 The Horse..is generally weake,..tender, and washy of flesh. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 300 Your thin necked and bodied cows, that are washy and flue. 1730 W. Burdon Gentl. Pocket-Farrier 61 Some Horses..part with their Food before 'tis well digested, and scour all the Way; which makes 'em so thin and lank, that they are ready to slip through their Girts; they are called washy. 1809 Sporting Mag. XXXIII. 138 It was a washy ill constitutioned horse. 1828–32 Webster, Washy..liable to sweat profusely with labor; as, a washy horse. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 163 [This] gives to a beast what is called a washy appearance, and is always attended with a liability to looseness in the bowels. This washiness is generally attended with an inordinate breadth of hooks [i.e. hips]. 1864 E. Mayhew Illustr. Horse Managem. 483 A leggy, a washy, a soft species of creature, which gentlemen find it cheaper to hire than to buy. |
6. Of a person: Lacking strength or stamina; weak, feeble, insipid; exhausted, washed-out; poor, mean, worthless. Now
rare or
Obs.| a 1631 Donne Serm. xlv. (1640) 448 All the good of man, considered supernaturally, is in grace; but that will not grow in a washy soule, in a liquid, in a watery, and dissolute, and scattered man. 1657 J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee, etc. iii. 24 Like as some, who used water instead of wine..were called by the Church ὑδροπαραστάται, or Aquarii, watry and washy Hereticks, as Augustine witnesseth. 1682 Dryden Epil. to King & Q. 37 Alas, our Women are but washy Toys. 1693 Ld. Falkland Congreve's Old Bach. Prol., If the Slave, After his bragging, prove a washy Knave; May he be banish'd to some lonely Den. 1719 D'Urfey Pills III. 337 What washy Rogues are here, are these the Sons of Beef, and English Beer? a 1721 Prior Daphne & Apollo 10 One mile has put the fellow out of breath;..Washy he is, perhaps not over sound. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 734, I looked a bit washy. |