wipe

To wipe something is it to clean it. This word is often used when cleaning something that is dirty or has some kind of a mess on it–a table, a car, hands, a person’s face, etc.

• John wiped his hands on a towel after fixing his car.
• Please wipe this table with soap and water.
• Tanya wiped the mud off of her car with a hose.
• A snowplow is wiping the snow off of the street.
• The school janitor wiped up the mud that the kids tracked into the building.
• Don’t wipe your mouth with your sleeve while you’re eating! Use a napkin.
• Wipe off your feet before you enter the house.
• Windshield wipers wipe water off of the windshield of a car.

She’s going to wipe up a mess on the floor with a wet cloth.

You’ll often hear "wipe" and "out" together when something completely disappears or when there is an accident:

• After Don lost his job, he wiped out his savings in order to pay all of his bills.
• An overwhelming military force wiped out the opposing armies.
• I wiped out while driving to work yesterday and hit a tree.

He wiped out on his surfboard.

Note: The song Wipe Out by the Surfaris was a huge hit in the 1960s and still gets a lot of airplay today.

Click here to go to the Word of the Day page.

This page was first published on December 19, 2011. It was amended on December 19, 2014.