This verb describes the act of washing something off or away, particularly in the context of ritual or practical cleansing. In classical Greek it appears in both literal contexts (washing sweat from the body, cleaning hands after meals) and in Homer's famous scene where Odysseus's scar is recognized 'as I was washing his feet.' The single New Testament occurrence captures Pilate's symbolic hand-washing, attempting to absolve himself of responsibility—a gesture rich with irony given the ancient association of this word with both physical cleansing and moral distancing.