wipe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /waɪp/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wipen, inherited from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, cleanse”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *wipjan, to move back and forth,^[3][2] source also of Danish vippe and Old High German wīfan, to swing,^[3][2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *weip-, to turn, vacillate, tremble,^[3][2] which also gave Latin vibrāre, to shake (see vibrate).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To rub clean or dry: about 960.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Figurative uses are from the 13th century.^[4] The noun, a slashing blow or cutting remark, is from the 16th century (1550),^[4][5] and an act of wiping from the 1640s (1550 in Barnhart).^[3][2] Something used for wiping is from 1708, especially slang for a handkerchief,^[3][5] and a disposable absorbent tissue from 1971.^[3] To erase a magnetic recording is by 1900.^[3] In film and television a wipe, one picture seeming to be wiped off by another, is from 1933.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 960 – to wipe.^[2]
• 1550 – a blow (noun).^[5]
• 1642 – an act of wiping.^[5]
• 1708 – a handkerchief (slang).^[3]
• 1933 – a screen wipe.^[5]
• 1971 – a disposable tissue.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To rub something lightly with a cloth, paper or hand in order to clean or dry it.
2. To remove by rubbing: wipe the dirt off.
3. To erase a recording, data or a memory.
4. To spread a substance, such as oil, by wiping.

Noun

1. An act of wiping.
2. A disposable cloth or tissue for wiping.
3. A transition in a film in which one scene seems to wipe away another.

Word family

• wipeout
• wiper

Related words

• whip
• vibrate

Usage notes

In Somerset and Devon dialect, a wipe was a bundle of brushwood used in draining.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)