wiping

Pluralwipings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of wipe.

   He is wiping sweat from his forehead between sets.

   Wiping down the counters is the last chore before closing.

   Note

   One verb form does two jobs here. After be it makes the progressive (she was wiping the table), and on its own it names the activity as a gerund (wiping takes patience). It carries every sense of wipe, including the particle uses: wiping away tears, wiping off a smudge, wiping out a mistake. As a gerund it takes a direct object, while the countable noun takes of and can be plural.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An act of cleaning, drying, or clearing a surface by rubbing it with a cloth or hand.

   A thorough wiping of the lens left it spotless.

   The whiteboard got a final wiping at the end of class.

   Similarcleaning, clean, rub, polish

   Note

   The noun reaches beyond cloths and countertops to the erasing of data, as in multiple wipings of a computer's hard disk. That use comes from wipe's sense of erasing, and it explains why the plural is common: a disk may be wiped again and again. The usual pattern puts of before the thing wiped, often with an adjective in front, as in a thorough wiping or a final wiping.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The material removed from a surface when it is wiped off.

   The mechanic collected the oily wipings in a metal tray.

   Each wiping left on the rag showed how dirty the engine was.

   Similarsmear, residue

   Note

   Here the word names what comes away, not the motion. It has a technical side in testing and investigation, where wipings taken from a suspect's hands are residue collected for analysis. It tends toward the plural, wipings, because what is gathered is usually a scatter of traces rather than a single thing.

4. 4
   nounslangcountable

   A thrashing; a severe beating or a decisive defeat.

   The home side handed the visitors a humiliating wiping.

   After such a wiping, the coach demanded a team meeting.

   Similarthrashing, drubbing, hammering, beating, trouncing

   Note

   Casual speech is where this one belongs. It is slang for a beating or a lopsided defeat, and it sits most naturally with verbs of giving and receiving: handed a wiping, took a wiping. It suits banter and lively sports talk. In formal writing, thrashing or a plain word like defeat is the safer choice.

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