Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - wash up

1. If you wash up, you wash the plates, cups, cutlery, and pans which have been used for cooking and eating a meal. (BRIT; in AM, use wash the dishes) I ran some hot water and washed up... I bet you make breakfast and wash up their plates, too. PHRASAL VERB: V P, V P n (not pron), also V n P 2. If you wash up, you clean part of your body with soap and water, especially your hands and face. (AM; in BRIT, use wash) He headed to the bathroom to wash up. PHRASAL VERB: V P 3. If something is washed up on a piece of land, it is carried by a river or sea and left there. Thousands of herring and crab are washed up on the beaches during every storm... The fossils appear to be an early form of seaweed washed up on a beach. PHRASAL VERB: usu passive, be V-ed P prep/adv, V-ed P 4. see also washed up, washing-up