backwash

plural backwashes

1. countableuncountablenauticalA backward flow of water, as from oars, a propeller, breaking waves, etc.

   They pitched the dragon over the cliff-top, let tide's flow and backwash take the treasure-minder.

   1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 98

   1 more example

   I looked back to a ferry passing the Statue of Liberty now, its backwash a curving line upon the bay.

   1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 166

2. countableuncountableThe similar flow of air from an aircraft engine.
3. countableuncountableThe result or consequence of an event; an aftermath.
4. countableuncountableThe saliva, spit or food particles that have flowed back into a drink after someone has drunk from it.
5. countableuncountableeconomicsThe situation where economic growth in one area harms other areas by attracting people and business away from those areas.
6. countableuncountableAn obscure place; a backwater.

   "Reasonable expenses, Nickle. You can't spend much in a backwash like this Tapsfield."

   1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London

7. countableuncountableeducationSynonym of washback.

   Synonyms: washback

present singular third person backwashes · participle present backwashing · participle past backwashed · past backwashed

1. To operate a water filter in the reverse direction in order to clean it.
2. transitiveTo affect with backwash.
3. To clean the oil from wool after combing.