wipe

Etymology 1

From Middle English wipen, from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, rub, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīpōn (“to wipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to twist, wind around”). Cognate with German wippen (“to bob”), Swedish veva (“to turn, wind, crank”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍀𐌰𐌽 (weipan, “to wreathe, crown”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”), Sanskrit वेपते (vépate, “to tremble”). More at swivel, swift.

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.
2. (transitive) To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out.
   So the plot is that he wipes half the population? April 25 2019, Amby Vaingankar, Ambycomics (comic)
3. (obsolete) To cheat; to defraud; to trick; usually followed by out.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To clean (the buttocks) after defecation.
   I had nothing to wipe my bum with.
   This is what happens if you never wipe. Your butthole gets dirty!
5. (transitive, computing) To erase.
   I accidentally wiped my hard drive.
6. (transitive, plumbing) 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. (figurative) 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. 2008, Adele, First Love
8. (transitive) To deperm (a ship).
9. (video editing) 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. 2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 85

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. 2009, Mary Ann Zoellner, Alicia Ybarbo, Today's Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby's First Year, page 58
3. (UK, slang, obsolete) A handkerchief.
   "Now, my kiveys, shy up your castors, tie your bird's-eye wipes to the stakes, and go to work." 1883, London Society, volume 43, page 101
   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 […] 1859, Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, page 54
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. 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 273
6. (UK, slang, obsolete) 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. 1894, William Tomkinson, James Tomkinson, The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns 1809-1815, page 48

Etymology 2

Compare Swedish vipa, Danish vibe (“lapwing”).

noun

1. A lapwing, especially a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).

Etymology 3

From wipe out (verb) and wipeout (noun) by shortening.

verb

1. (intransitive, roleplaying games, video games) 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. (roleplaying games, video games) An instance of all members of a party dying in a single campaign, event, or battle; a wipeout.