washed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of wash.

   The volunteers washed mud off the stranded birds for hours.

   After the flood receded, the family washed every surface in the house.

   Note

   Wash is a regular verb, so one spelling does both jobs: she washed the car; she has washed the car. Because wash can be transitive or intransitive, the participle works in the passive (the topsoil was washed away), while the intransitive use lets the thing itself be the subject (the bank washed away overnight). The same spelling also carries the slang verdict "past it".

2. 2
   adjectiveslangabbreviationclipping

   Clipping of washed up.

   Critics wrote him off as washed the moment his sales began slipping.

   He laughed off the rumors that he was washed and signed another two-year deal.

   Note

   Slang for the athlete or performer whose best days are behind them, made by dropping the up from washed up. It usually follows be or look (he's washed, she looks washed), and casual posts drop even the verb: "my goat washed." It is gradable, so more washed is possible. Keep it out of formal writing, where "he's washed" will be read as the everyday past of wash, meaning freshly cleaned.

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