wash down

verb

washed down; washing down; washes down

transitive verb

1

: to move or carry downward by action of a liquid

especially : to facilitate the passage of (food) down the gullet with accompanying swallows of liquid

pizza washed down with beer

2

: to wash the whole length or extent of

washed down and scrubbed the front porch

Examples of wash down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Guests tucked into slabs of soda bread with lashings of butter and chicken pot pie, washed down by flights of Baileys on ice and second helpings from a trifle cart. —Freya Drohan, Vogue, 12 Dec. 2025

In the group shower after the shoot, as water washes down their perfectly pert hockey asses, furtive glances turn into Ilya full-on pulling his hog in front of Shane, who doesn’t say no. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2025

The price tag for bingeing 29 hot dogs dolled up with ketchup, mustard and relish and washed down with a Pepsi or Mountain Dew? —Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 19 Nov. 2025

The lobster rolls are just as good—even better when washed down with a local ale from Buzzards Bay Brewing. —Anna Laird Barto, Travel + Leisure, 17 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1600, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for wash down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown