—v.tr.
1 clean or dry the surface of by rubbing with the hands or a cloth etc.
2 rub (a cloth) over a surface.
3 spread (a liquid etc.) over a surface by rubbing.
4 (often foll. by away, off, etc.) a clear or remove by wiping (wiped the mess off the table; wipe away your tears). b remove or eliminate completely (the village was wiped off the map).
5 a erase (data, a recording, etc., from a magnetic medium). b erase data from (the medium).
6 Austral. & NZ sl. reject or dismiss (a person or idea).
—n.
1 an act of wiping (give the floor a wipe).
2 a piece of disposable absorbent cloth, usu. treated with a cleansing agent, for wiping something clean (antiseptic wipes).
Phrases and idioms:
wipe down clean (esp. a vertical surface) by wiping. wipe a person's eye colloq. get the better of a person. wipe the floor with colloq. inflict a humiliating defeat on. wipe off annul (a debt etc.). wipe out
1 a destroy, annihilate (the whole population was wiped out). b obliterate (wiped it out of my memory).
2 sl. murder.
3 clean the inside of.
4 avenge (an insult etc.).
wipe-out n.
1 the obliteration of one radio signal by another.
2 an instance of destruction or annihilation.
3 sl. a fall from a surfboard. wipe the slate clean see SLATE.
wipe up
1 Brit. dry (dishes etc.).
2 take up (a liquid etc.) by wiping.
Derivatives:
wipeable adj.
Etymology: OE wipian: cf. OHG wifan wind round, Goth. weipan crown: rel. to WHIP
Useful english dictionary. 2012.