wipes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of wipe.

   He stocked the bathroom with antibacterial wipes before the guests arrived.

   Travelers often carry damp wipes to clean their hands on the road.

   Note

   A spelling shared with the verb, so the surrounding words decide. After a number or determiner (two wipes, a pack of wipes) it is the noun; after a subject (she wipes) it is the present-tense verb. The plural is most at home with the cloth sense, since disposable wipes are used in multiples. Film editors also speak of wipes as transitions, and old British slang once used the word for handkerchiefs or blows.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of wipe.

   The nurse wipes the wound gently before applying a bandage.

   A single keystroke wipes the entire screen clean.

   Note

   The present-tense form that follows he, she, it or a singular noun: the nurse wipes, a keystroke wipes. It often brings a particle along. Wipes away, wipes off and wipes out shift the meaning from cleaning a surface to removing or obliterating what was on it. That is how a cloth that wipes a table differs from a virus that wipes out the files.

   She wipes off the chalk before the next class begins.

   One power surge wipes out a week of unsaved work.

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