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wipe out

 [wahyp-out]   Origin

wipe·out

   [wahyp-out]
noun
1.
Informal. destruction, annihilation, or murder.
2.
Informal. (in sports) a decisive defeat.
3.
a fall from a surfboard.
4.
Slang. a total or complete failure: to suffer a wipeout in the stock market.
5.
Slang. complete physical exhaustion.
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Also, wipe-out.

Origin:
1920–25; noun use of verb phrase wipe out

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Wipe out is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

wipe

   [wahyp] verb, wiped, wip·ing, noun
verb (used with object)
1.
to rub lightly with or on a cloth, towel, paper, the hand, etc., in order to clean or dry the surface of: He wiped the furniture with a damp cloth.
2.
to rub or draw (something) over a surface, as in cleaning or drying.
3.
to remove by rubbing with or on something (usually followed by away, off, out, etc.): Wipe the dirt off your shoes. Wipe the dust from the pictures.
4.
to remove as if by rubbing (usually followed by away, off, etc.): Wipe that smile off your face!
5.
to erase, as from existence or memory (often followed by from): to wipe a thought from one's mind.
EXPAND
6.
to erase (magnetic tape, a recording, etc.).
7.
Plumbing.
a.
to apply (solder in a semifluid state) by spreading with leather or cloth over the part to be soldered.
b.
to form (a joint) in this manner.
8.
Machinery. (of a rotating shaft or the like) to melt the brasses of (a bearing) through friction.
9.
Australian Slang. to refuse to have anything to do with; reject; dismiss.
COLLAPSE
noun
10.
an act of wiping: He gave a few quick wipes to the furniture.
11.
a rub, as of one thing over another.
12.
Also called wipe-off. Movies. a technique in film editing by which the projected image of a scene appears to be pushed or wiped off the screen by the image that follows.
13.
a piece of absorbent material, as of paper or cloth, used for wiping.
14.
a sweeping stroke or blow.
EXPAND
15.
a gibe.
16.
Machinery. wiper (def. 5).
17.
Slang. a handkerchief.
COLLAPSE
Verb phrases
18.
wipe out,
a.
to destroy completely; demolish: The entire city was wiped out.
b.
Informal. to murder; kill: They wiped him out to keep him from testifying.
c.
Slang. to beat decisively, as in sports.
d.
Slang. (in sports) to be taken out of competition by a fall, accident, collision, etc.
e.
Slang. to intoxicate or cause to become high, especially on narcotic drugs.
19.
wipe up, to clean completely by wiping: to wipe up the mess on the floor.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English (v.), Old English wīpian; cognate with Old High German wīfan to wind round, Gothic weipan to crown; perhaps akin to Latin vibrāre to move to and fro

Synonyms
4. erase, eradicate, banish.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To wipe out
Collins
World English Dictionary
wipe out
 
—vb
1.  (tr) to destroy completely; eradicate
2.  informal (tr) to murder or kill
3.  (intr) to fall or jump off a surfboard or skateboard
 
—n
4.  an act or instance of wiping out
5.  the interference of one radio signal by another so that reception is impossible

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

wipe
O.E. wipan, from P.Gmc. *wipanan (cf. Dan. vippe, M.Du., Du. vippen, O.H.G. wifan "to swing"), from PIE *weip- "to turn, vacillate, tremble" (cf. L. vibrare "to shake;" see vibrate). The noun meaning "disposable absorbent tissue" is attested from 1971. Surfer slang produced
EXPAND
wipeout (1962); sense of "destruction, defeat, a killing" is recorded from 1968.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

wipe out definition


  1. in.
    to crash. : The car wiped out on the curve.
  2. in.
    to fall off or away from something, such as a bicycle, skates, a surfboard, a skateboard, etc. : I wiped out and skinned my knee.
  3. n.
    [ˈwɑɪpɑʊt]a wreck. (Usually wipe-out.) : There was a four-car wipe-out on the expressway when I came in this morning.
  4. n.
    an accident on a bicycle, skates, surfboard, skateboard, etc. (Usually wipe-out.) : I had a nasty wipe-out, but I only bruised my elbow.
  5. n.
    a loser; someone who is likely to wipe out. (Usually wipe-out.) : The guy's a wipe-out, for sure.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

wipe (so) definition


  1. tv.
    to eliminate someone; to kill someone. (Underworld.) : Max almost wiped Spike out.
  2. tv.
    to exhaust or tire someone. : Jogging always wipes me out.
  3. tv.
    to ruin someone financially. : The storm ruined the corn crop and wiped out everyone in the county.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

wipe (sth) out definition


  1. tv.
    to use up all of something. (See also wiped (out).) : I wiped the cookies out—not all at once, of course.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

wipe out

  1. Destroy, as in The large chains are wiping out the independent bookstores. Originally put simply as wipe, the idiom acquired out in the first half of the 1800s.

  2. Kill; also, murder. For example, The entire crew was wiped out in the plane crash, or The gangsters threatened to wipe him and his family out. [Late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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