wipe

verb

1. (transitive)To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (Compare rub.)

   “Melissa wiped her glasses with her shirt.”

   “I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.”

   “Tom started to wipe his eyes.”

   “So they passed through the Palace Gates and were led into a big room with a green carpet and lovely green furniture set with emeralds. The soldier made them all wipe their feet upon a green mat before entering this room, and when they were seated he said politely[…]”

2. (transitive)To smear (a substance) with this kind of motion.

   “You've wiped grease all over your shirt.”

3. (transitive)To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out.

   “Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon.”

   “So the plot is that he wipes half the population?”

4. (ambitransitive)To clean (the anus, buttocks and/or genitals) after defecation or urination.

   “I had nothing to wipe my bum with.”

   “Even if you wipe very carefully, you still have to wash your hands afterward.”

5. (transitive)To erase.

   “I accidentally wiped my hard drive.”

6. (transitive)To make (a joint, as between pieces of lead pipe), by surrounding the junction with a mass of solder, applied in a plastic condition by means of a rag with which the solder is shaped by rubbing.
7. (figuratively)To remove an expression from one's face.

   “You should wipe that smirk off your face before the boss comes in.”

   “Please wipe that look out of your eyes, it's bribing me to doubt myself.”

8. (transitive)To deperm (a ship).
9. To perform a transition in which one scene or slide is replaced with another over time along a horizontal axis, as if one scene or slide is a layer being slid off the other.

   “Steve-O tells the camera, “Don’t worry; the next skit’s gonna be amazing”; he then pretends to grab the side of the screen, which “wipes” to the next shot.”

10. (UK, obsolete, slang)To hit or strike.
11. (obsolete)To cheat; to defraud; to trick; usually followed by out.

    “The English, which they thinke lye still in wayte to wipe them out of theyr landes.”

    “If they by coveyne [covin] or gile be wiped beside their goods.”

12. (intransitive)To have all members of a party die in a single campaign, event, or battle; to be wiped out.

    “If you try to fight that boss underprepared, you're definitely gonna wipe.”

noun

1. The act of wiping something.

   “multiple wipes of a computer's hard disk”

2. A soft piece of cloth or cloth-like material used for wiping.

   “When on a plane or train, don't take anything into the bathroom except baby, a changing pad, a diaper, a travel packet of wipes, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. Always use a wipe on the area before you put your baby down.”

3. (UK, obsolete, slang)A handkerchief.

   “"Now, my kiveys, shy up your castors, tie your bird's-eye wipes to the stakes, and go to work."”

   “All fighting coves you too must know, / Ben Caunt as well as Bendigo, / And to each mill be sure to go, / […] And you must sport a blue billy, / Or a yellow wipe […]”

4. A kind of film transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape.
5. (obsolete)A sarcastic remark; a reproof, a jibe.

   “I could not help giving Metcalfe a wipe for his lamentations, observing I should have thought he had enough to attend to at home.”

6. (UK, obsolete, slang)A blow or swipe; the act of striking somebody or something.

   “He rode close up to a French officer, and so much in advance of his men that the Frenchman thought he was going to surrender, and dropped his sword, when Penrice gave him a wipe over his head.”

7. A lapwing, especially a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).
8. An instance of all members of a party dying in a single campaign, event, or battle; a wipeout.