Meanings
awash1
comparative more awash · superlative most awash
- Washed by the waves or tide (of a rock or strip of shore, or of an anchor, etc., when flush with the surface of the water, so that the waves break over it); covered with water.
The former rock is awash at low water […]
1835, Martin White, Sailing Directions for the English Channel, London: The Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, page 262 more examples
The deck was continually awash with the sea which came inboard over the rail and through the scuppers.
1904, Jack London, chapter 39, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 319but the river’s in flood / and the roads are awash / and the bridges break up / in the panic of loss.
1979, Leonard Cohen, “Ballad of the Absent Mare”, in Recent Songs - broadlyCovered, overspread (with or in something).
2005, Chris Ramirez, 2nd find excites museum diggers," The Arizona Republic, 26 Aug, The Valley landscape was more awash with greenery some 11,000 years ago.
5 more examples
Tonight, his mind was awash with visions:
1953, James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints), page 80In the Sumerian language the word for water also means semen, and since Enki is the god of water, he is therefore the god of semen. In this ode to the Great Father, the land of the Sumerians is literally awash with semen.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 162Bulgaria's only attacking weapon was the wayward shooting of Martin Petrov, whereas England's attacking options were awash with movement in the shape of Rooney, Young and Walcott.
2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC[…] the whole country’s awash in guns and Bibles,
2019, Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport, Galley Beggar PressTHE LIQUID SAMURAI ROSE, AWASH IN THE MIRROR'S MAGIC.
2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Liquid Samurai), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch, scene: opening
Awash2
- A market town in central Ethiopia.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecovered with water
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Englisha-
- Proto-Indo-European*wed-
- Proto-Indo-European*wodsḱéti
- Proto-Germanic*waskaną
- Proto-West Germanic*waskan
- Old Englishwascan
- Middle Englishwaschen
- Englishwash
- Englishawash
Translations
Arabic مغسول بالأمواج
- مغسول بالأمواجwashed by the waves or tide
Bulgarian залят, наводнен
- залят (zaljat)washed by the waves or tide
- наводнен (navodnen)washed by the waves or tide
Danish overskyllet
- overskylletwashed by the waves or tide
Dutch blank, overspoeld
- blankwashed by the waves or tide
- overspoeldwashed by the waves or tide
Finnish veden peitossa, vesirajassa
- veden peitossawashed by the waves or tide
- vesirajassawashed by the waves or tide
German überschwemmt
- überschwemmtwashed by the waves or tide
Hungarian vízzel elárasztott, elárasztott
- vízzel elárasztottwashed by the waves or tide
- elárasztottwashed by the waves or tide
Italian inondato
- inondatowashed by the waves or tide
Norwegian Bokmål overskyllet
- overskylletwashed by the waves or tide
Russian заливаемый, покрытый
- заливаемый (zalivajemyj)washed by the waves or tide
- покрытый (pokrytyj)covered, overspread
Spanish inundado
- inundadowashed by the waves or tide
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with awash
Anagrams
Cite this entry
awash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/awash
“awash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/awash. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “awash,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/awash.
Source: awash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.