Washway
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A channel where water flows during floods, especially one that is carved out by erosion caused by floodwater.
"[…] justifies a conclusion, that by the farther contraction of the descending waters over the washway, the navigation and drainage through the Wisbeach river, will be farther improved."
- 2 A sluice where manure and other agricultural waste is washed away.
"The steers in this treatment had space for standing only in the washways, whereas the steers in all the other treatments had additional standing or lying space other than the washways."
- 3 A portion of a device where something is washed.
"[…] said deformable means having lens contacting opposed surfaces providing a washway and adapted for wiping engagement with a lens moved longitudinally in the washway."
- 4 A means of washing.
"You'll probably admit that a good washing machine is better than the old time washway."
Example
More examples"[…] justifies a conclusion, that by the farther contraction of the descending waters over the washway, the navigation and drainage through the Wisbeach river, will be farther improved."
Etymology
From wash + way.
More for "washway"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.