[f. WASH v.]
1. Mining. A trough in which ore is washed.
1557. in Pettus, Fodinæ Reg. (1670), 95. Also that no Purchasors shall let or stop any Miners from any Wash-trough at any time.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 146. The first sort is reserved for use; the second, or middling sort, is again put into the stamping-mill, and afterwards into the wash-trough, where the parts that contain no cinnabar float in the water.
2. A trough used for washing the hands and face.
1902. O. Wister, Virginian, ii. 16. It was not much of a toilet that I made in the first wash-trough of my experience, but it had to suffice.
