wash up

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wash up (third-person singular simple present washes up, present participle washing up, simple past and past participle washed up)

1. (Britain, transitive, intransitive) To clean the utensils, dishes etc. used in preparing and eating a meal.

   You wash up tonight and I'll dry.

   I'm not washing up all these dishes.

2. (US, intransitive) To wash one's hands and/or face, often around mealtimes.

   Dinner is almost ready, so go and wash up.

3. (transitive, of water) To carry (an object) to land.

   The tide washes up a lot of driftwood.

   The whale was washed up on the beach.

4. (intransitive) To be carried by water to land.

   Some dangerous chemicals washed up on the beach.

5. (intransitive, by extension) To arrive in a place; to end up somewhere.
   • 2009, Joe Ambrose, Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop

     Ron Asheton also washed up in LA, jamming with one-time Stooge Jimmy Recca and Amboy Dukes drummer K. J. Knight.

• (clean utensils, dishes, etc.): do the dishes, do the washing-up

wash up (plural wash ups)

1. The act by which something is washed.
2. (informal) Something or somebody that is washed up; a has-been.
3. (military, slang) A meeting to gauge the success or failure of an operation or war game.
   • 2001, William J Crowe, Jr., The Line of Fire

     I found it quite interesting that the players had gone to great lengths not to fire nuclear weapons, even in games that pitted Soviet and Western forces against each other in demanding situations. […] Huge arguments would take place in the post-game analyses or "washups."

• Upshaw, upwash, wha-ups, whasup, whaups