Pa. t. and pple. wiped. Forms: 1 wipian, 3–6 wype, (4 whype, 5 whipe, wyp, 6 wip), 2– wipe. β. 4–5 wepe, 5 weype, 7 weipe, weepe. Pa. t. 1 wipode, 3–4 wipede, wypede, 4–7 wyped (etc.), 3– wiped. β. 4 wipped, wyppit, 4–5 wipte, 5–6 wypt, 5–7 wipt. γ. 4 weped, 5 weput. Pa. pple. 2–4 i-wipet, 3–4 i-wyped; 5–7 wyped (5 weyped), 6– wipdd. β. 4 wipped, wypped, 5–6 wypt, 6–7 wipt(e, wip’t. [OE. wípian OHG. wîfan (MHG. wîfen) to wind round, Goth. weipan to crown; further related to OHG. waif bandage, ON. veipr head-covering, Goth. waips wreath, and the forms enumerated s.v. WHIP: f. the base wib-, as in L. vibrāre to brandish, shake.]
1. trans. To rub (something) gently with a soft cloth or the like, or on something, so as to clear its surface of dust, dirt, moisture, etc.; to clean or dry in this way. Also with compl.
c. 960. Æthelwold, Rule St. Benet (Schröer, 1885), xxxv. 59. Wæterclaðas … þe hy heora handa and fet mid wipedan.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 426. Ic ʓeseo Godes engel standende ætforan ðe mid hand-claðe, and wipaþ ðine swatiʓan limu.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 125. Wassce and wipe wol clane ða eiȝene.
c. 1205. Lay., 22289. Heo wipeden hors leoue mid linnene claðe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15300. And wit his tueil efterward Þair fete he weped clene. Ibid., 17683. Quen he wipped had mi face.
c. 1300. K. Horn, 622 (Laud MS.). Horn gan hys swerd gripe And on his arm hyt wipe.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 195. I-wipet with a wesp of Firsen.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 647. Quhen the king saw thai war ded,… he wyppit his brand.
c. 1400. Maundev., xxvii. [xxiii.] (1919), 165. Whan þei han eten, þei wypen hire hondes vpon hire skirtes.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C viij. She bekyth when she sewith: that is to say she wypith hir beke.
c. 1500. Young Children’s Bk., 105, in Babees Bk., 23. Wype thi mouthe when þou wyll drinke.
1508. Stanbridge, Vulgaria (W. de W.), B iij. Wype thy nose.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas. XXIX. (Percy Soc.), 136. Whan she lacketh cloutes, without any fayle She wyped her disshes wyth her dogges tayle.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 122. We haue … sat at good mens feasts, and wip’d our eies Of drops, that sacred pity hath engendred.
1610. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 191. To a boie that wyped bootes, iijd.
1781. Cowper, Expost., 385. Though a bishop toil to cleanse the stain, He wipes and scours the silver cup in vain.
1806. J. Carr, Stranger in Ireland, *167. A large Newfoundland dog, or a little boy with a wig on his head, walks round the table for the guests to wipe their fingers upon.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., xiii. Wiping his lips, after having finished his draught.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, liii. Stopping on the mat to wipe his shoes all round.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxii. The Major had swum out and was standing on the rock wiping himself.
absol. 1614. Earl Stirling, Domesday, II. xcix. Thus waters wash, winds wipe, and both conspire, That th’ earth (so purg’d) may be prepar’d for fire.
† b. To rub, stroke. Obs.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 212. Þenne he wakede of his wynk and wypede his eiȝen.
a. 1375. Joseph Arim., 30. Thenne he toke me by the hande frome the grounde and wyped my face with a rose and kyssed me.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 265. Then toke Iude þe lettyr þat Cryst send to þe kyng befor, and weput þe kyngys forhede þerwyth.
2. To remove or clear away (moisture, dust, etc.) from something by the action described in 1. Often with away, off, up.
Also formerly in extended sense, e.g., of a cleansing substance.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 4. Leʓe on huniʓ ðreo niht, nim þonne & wipa þæt huniʓ of.
a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in O. E. Hom., I. 261. Þat haueð alle teares iwipet of hare ehnen.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 1203 (Camb.). He wipede þat blake of his swere.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3380. Whipe vp þi teris.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 188. He had a cloth…, forto wepen away þe terys.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xxv. 8. The Lorde God shal wipe awaye the teares from all faces.
1583. Hollyband, Campo di Fior, 375. Hauing first wipt of the dust well.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 38. The Goddesse … With her soft garment wipes away the gore.
1646. Crashaw, Sospetto d’Herode, xlix. With her soft wing wipt from the browes of men Day’s sweat.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VI. ii. They should have wiped it up, said my uncle Toby, and said no more about it.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xxxviii. Now he took courage to wipe off the perspiration which had been trickling over his nose.
1882. Besant, All Sorts, xx. She groaned and wiped away a tear.
† b. (with away, out) To obliterate, efface, erase. Obs. as a specific sense.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lxviii[i]. 28. Let them be wyped out of ye boke of the liuynge.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 232 b. Augustus had writen a tragedie entitleed Aiax, and ye same tragedie … (because it myslyked hym) he wyped out with a spounge.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xiii. 217. If ye meane fortune as she is peynted by the Poets,… it is as easie to wype her away as to paynt her.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 112. They are allowed a Board plastered over, which with Cotton they wipe out, when full, as we do from Slates.
1826. Landor, Imag. Conv., Emp. Alex. & Capo D’Istria, I. 447. Your Majesty has wiped away with the soft part of the pen, what the British Minister thought he had written so deeply.
† c. transf. and gen. To remove, clear away or off (something deleterious or offensive). Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. i. (1495), L ij b/1. Water … wypeth of fylthe and wasshyth awaye synnes.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. v. 30. Whiles creeping slomber made him to forget His former paine, and wypt away his toylsom sweat.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, II. xxxiv. 243. That turneps … wipe away the spots of the face.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. xi. Till coldest aire … And heav’ns cleare forehead now wipes off her former lowres.
1641. Milton, Animadv., Wks. 1851, III. 246. Wipe your fat corpulencies out of our light.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), III. 39. To weepe off this manchinge staine.
3. To apply or spread a soft or liquid substance over the surface of a body by rubbing it on with a cloth, pad, or the like (with the substance or the body as obj.); spec. in Plumbing, to apply solder by this method so as to unite and finish off a joint.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 98. With this liquid wipe over your gilding.
1837. Whittock, etc., Bk. Trades (1842), 287 (Gun-maker). Nitrous acid, which contains gas, and is slightly wiped on in stripes.
1888. J. W. Clarke, Mod. Plumbing Pract. (1914), I. 100. If the cloths are of a good thickness the joints can be wiped much truer.
4. fig. (from 1.) To clear, cleanse (from or of something); in the biblical passage, to empty completely, lay waste.
c. 1400. Pety Job, 211, in 26 Pol. Poems, 127. Thus with wepyng haue I wypt My soule … from dedly synne.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings xxi. 13. I … wyll wype out Ierusalem, euen as one wypeth a platter [1560 (Geneva), I wil wipe Ierusalem, as a man wipeth a dish].
1899. F. T. Bullen, Way Navy, 94. The happy … faculty of wiping their minds clear of harassing thought.
† 5. To deprive, rob, cheat, defraud, do out of some possession or advantage. Const. beside (BESIDE B. 4 c), of; rarely for (FOR prep. 23 d), from.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. James i. 1–12. He shall … bee wyped besydes al his goodes.
1577–82. Breton, Floorish upon Fancie, Wks. (Grosart), I. 30/1. My Ladies Maides will wipe the Page, Alwayes of such an heritage.
1594. [? Greene], Selimus, E 2. To wipe me cleane for euer being king. Ibid., F 2 b. Hath he not wip’t me from the Turkish crowne?
1596. Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 612/1. The English, which they thinke lye still in wayte to wipe them out of theyr landes.
1622. Fletcher, Span. Cur., IV. v. You fool us of our moneys…, in every Quiddit wipe us.
1678. Donna Olimpia, 84. Seeing her self clearly wiped of that Interest.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., I. x. 56. The wily Harlot, and the Slave, who join To wipe the Miser of his darling Coin.
6. (from 2.) To clear away, remove: most commonly with adv. (away, off, out). a. To take away, put away (something figured as a stain or defilement); to remove the guilt, blame or dishonor of; to clear a person, or oneself, of (a charge or imputation).
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VIII. 131. Whanne þe mescheef of his takynge was i-wyped of.
c. 1410. Hoccleve, Mother of God, 31. O blessid lady,… Þat by prayere wypest cleene away The filthes of our synful wikkidnesse.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 42. The good lyfe … wypeth awaye the synnes.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. iv. 117. This blot that they obiect against your House, Shall be wiped [Fol. whipt] out in the next Parliament.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Justine, XXXVI. 114. To the entent to wipe that spot of cowardice wherewith hee had blemished his reputation.
1649. Milton, Eikon., xv. 140. To wipe off jealousies and scandals, the best way had bin by clear Actions.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 61. By his fidelity to wipe out all that was past.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. India, II. 149. One of those chiefs, indignant at the imputation, determined … to wipe it off at any risk.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. v. 431. There died Godwine,… wiping out, by a valiant death, the errors of an earlier stage of his life.
† b. To take away completely, as by theft or fraud; to make off with. (Cf. 5.) Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 286/296. Al þat ich habbe i-wonne a-day…, I-wyped it is al clene a-wey ase it neuere nere.
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, IV. iii. S iv b. That he maye wype awaye all the money of this man.
1556. Olde, Antichrist, 74. They deceatfully & fraudulently wyped their money from them.
1599. Sir J. Hayward, 1st Pt. Hen. IV., 55. Hee wiped away from the people such heapes of money as [etc.].
1648. Gage, West Ind., 151. The Priest … wipes away to his chamber all that which the poor … Indians had offered.
c. To destroy the trace of, obliterate, efface; to destroy the effect or value of, bring to nought.
1564. Brief Exam., *iij b. I must nedes wype a great many out of their brotherhood.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. i. 211. I knew of this before. But … This present greefe had wip’d it from my minde. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., IV. ii. 11. As thou lou’st me (Camillo) wipe not out the rest of thy seruices, by leauing me now.
1704. C. Leslie, Wolf Stript, 50. But all they have done before, is wip’d clean off!
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., vii. 125. Every period of linguistic life … wipes out a part of the intermediates which connect a derived element with its original.
1898. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, v. 47. The anxiety wiped away from his face as if by magic.
1901. Scotsman, 1 March, 7/4. Last week the questions reached a total which had never before been known. This afternoon that record was wiped out, and another established.
d. To do away with, put an end to, abolish, annihilate. Now always with out.
1538. Starkey, England (1878), 194. The tyrannycal … instytutyonys … left here among vs, whych al schold be wypt away by the receyuyng of thys wych we cal the veray cyuyle law.
1567. Jewel, Def. Apol., 468. If yee had not vtterly wypte al shame from your faces.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Dec., 108. My haruest wast, my hope away dyd wipe.
1841. Browning, Pippa Passes, II. 212. And wipe with the first lunge My foe’s whole life out, like a sponge.
a. 1842. Arnold, in Stanley, Life (1845), I. iv. 237. So completely wiping a man out of existence.
1903. Athenæum, 17 Jan., 71/3. The competition of railways, which has wiped out the steamers of the Mississippi.
e. spec. To put all to death, destroy completely, exterminate (a body of persons). Usually with out.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, 105/2. The Chananites were wiped away bycause of their incest.
1861. Jrnl. Discourses (1862), IX. 112. Many of the officers went away saying, ‘We will come by-and-by and wipe you out.’
1865. Swinburne, Poems & Ball., Hymn to Proserpine, 14. O Gods dethroned and deceased, cast forth, wiped out in a day.
1889. Kipling, Willie Winkie, Drums of Fore & Aft, 103. But for want of fresh troops, the Afghans would have been wiped off the earth.
1898. Gustav Kobbé, in Century Mag., April, 925/2. A tragedy which wiped out an entire crew, with the exception of this sole survivor.
f. (with off, rarely † out) To cancel (an account or score); to discharge, pay off (a debt).
1667. Dryden & Dk. Newc., Sir M. Mar-all, II. ii. All this is since the last reckoning was wip’d out.
1668. Dryden, Even. Love, III. i. For this time I wipe off your score, till you are caught tripping in some new amour.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, II. xxi. 133. Lovelace … like an absolved confessionaire, wipes off, as he goes along, one score, to begin another.
1831. G. P. R. James, Philip Aug., xliii. Many an old score of rebellion not yet wiped off between himself and the king.
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 187. A sum which has to go to wipe off a few of your most pressing mortgages.
† g. (with off) To get quit or clear of (an unpleasant task). Obs. rare.
1655. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 13. I am glad … that you have wipt off that dirty & wett journey so fairely without prejudice to yor health.
7. To strike, beat or attack (with blows, or with mockery, sarcasm, rebuke, or the like). Now dial. or slang.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. lxxxvi. h ij b/1. They wolde come to the walles, and wype them in derysion, sayeng [etc.].
c. 1550. Thersytes (facs.), D j b. Thom tombler of tewxbury turninge at a tryce Wyll wype wylliam waterman if he be not wyse.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 22. You see my quarter staffe…. A washing blow of this … can wipe a fellow ouer the thumbs.
1620. I. C., Two Merry Milk-maids, IV. i. Cal. Something crost my Nose. Ran. A Dore, a Dore, the fields are full of them…. There was another wip’t me in the same place.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, I. i. Tra. You have wip’d him now. Soph. So will he never the wench, I hope.
1643. Milton, Divorce, II. x. Wks. 1851, IV. 88. That such a hainous fault … should be onely wipt with an implicit and oblique touch.
1663. Lamont, Diary (Maitl. Club), 164. [He] found them out in bed togither, wher he abused his brother for such a lewd prancke, and did weipe hir with his rodde.
1846. Bentley’s Misc., Oct., 366. If you don’t shell out on the minute I’ll wipe your throat with my bowy-knife.
1882. Jamieson’s Sc. Dict., Wipe, to strike, to whip. Clydes.
† b. (with away, off) To strike off, cut off at a blow. Obs. rare.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. xi. 27. Her Lions clawes he from her feete away did wipe.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 130. Nor that a Nonconformists head must be wip’d off as oft as your nose drivles.
8. intr. for pass. (lit. or fig.: see 2, 6).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8952. If þat ani vertu be Of halines wit-in þat tre, Wit sinful mens fett … On ganging it sal wipe a-wai.
1426. Audelay, Poems, 21. Al the worchyp of this word hit wyl wype sone away, Hit fallus and fadys forth.
1827. Pollok, Course T., VIII. 138. He had on his hands The blood of souls, that would not wipe away.
Mod. colloq. The spots will easily wipe off.
9. Phrases (with various nouns as obj.). a. To wipe a person’s nose: † (a) see NOSE sb. 10, 10 b (cf. sense 5 above); occas., to treat with contempt or indignity; (b) in mod. use = d (a). † b. To wipe the mouth of: to exonerate, prove or assert the innocence of: cf. Prov. xxx. 20. c. To wipe one’s hands of = to wash one’s hands of (WASH v. 3 e). Similarly to wipe one’s lips of. d. To wipe a person’s eye (slang or colloq.): (a) Sporting, etc. (see quot. 1823); hence, to get the better of, ‘score off’; (b) to ‘give a black eye to.’ e. To wipe one’s boots on: to inflict the utmost indignity upon. To wipe the floor with: to ‘bring to the ground’ utterly, inflict a crushing defeat upon.
a. 1437–. [see NOSE sb. 10].
1568. trans. Gonsalvius’ Inquis., 10. The party must … seeke to wipe their noses by shaping them a shorte aunswere.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 323/2. Hee deuised a shifte howe to wype the Byshoppes nose of some of his Golde.
1598–1721. [see NOSE sb. 10 b].
1599–1600. Minutes Archdeaconry of Colchester, Jan. lf. 247 (MS.). Her husband … dyd saye that ‘I will wype the noses of you all.’
1842. Asiatic Jrnl., XXXVII. I. 235. He once or twice, to borrow a not very delicate sporting phrase, ‘wiped my nose’ in a very oft-hand manner.
1850. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour, lvii. ‘I could have wiped your nose,’ exclaimed Mr. Sponge, covering the hare with a hedge stake placed to his shoulder like a gun.
b. 1687. Good Advice, 8. I know she flatters herself … she is a Bulwark against Popery; and with that,… wipes her Mouth of all old scores.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 95. This is alledged by the Romanists to wipe the mouth of the pope from being called the Antichrist.
c. 1785. Trusler, Mod. Times, III. (ed. 3), 59. As reputations generally outlive the period of human life, and the last slaughter is the greatest of the two, I was determined to wipe my hands of it.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, xvi. With a late and hesitating virtue, they wiped their lips of the murderer’s malt, and consented to believe him very bad indeed.
1855. Trollope, Warden, x. That he could … wipe his hands altogether of so sorrow-stirring a concern.
d. 1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, s.v., In shooting, if one miss the bird, and a companion, firing after, kill it, the lucky, or more skilful gunner, is said to wipe the eye of his disappointed friend.
1860. W. W. Reade, Liberty Hall, II. 207. If there is anything,… you shoot first, old boy, as it’s your find: I’ll stand by and wipe your eye.
1869. Athenæum, 14 Aug., 214/1. The personal question between the Society and its agents, of what is due from the latter to the former when its eye is to be wiped in the fashion above told.
1874. R. H. Belcher, Cramleigh Coll., I. 89. Hullo! Cheeky! it’s Sunday, or else I’d wipe your eye for you.
1899. Spectator, 18 March, 385/1. Never so well-pleased as when he is wiping the eye of the professional burglar.
e. 1899. Mackail, Morris, II. 346. Though he often wiped his boots on a man, he never showed him the more stinging insolence of condescension.
1905. ‘G. Thorne,’ Lost Cause, ix. His only grief was that he was not allowed to ‘wipe the floor with that there Hamlyn.’
1918. ‘G. A. Birmingham,’ Island Myst., xxiv. 287. He was so infernally certain that the Emperor would wipe the floor with us.
Hence Wiped ppl. a. (see sense 3).
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Wiped Joint (Plumbing), one made by placing the parts in the required juxtaposition and covering the joint with a mass of solder.
