wipe
verb
[ wʌɪp ]
• clean or dry (something) by rubbing with a cloth, a piece of paper, or one's hand.
• "Paul wiped his face with a handkerchief"
• remove or eliminate (something) completely.
• "things have happened to wipe the smile off Kate's face"
• erase data from (a computer system or electronic or magnetic storage device).
• "I discovered all of my hard drives had been wiped"
• pass (a swipe card) over an electronic reader.
• "a customer wipes the card across the reader and enters his/her identification number"
wipe
noun
• an act of wiping.
• "Bert was giving the machine a final wipe over with an oily rag"
• a disposable cloth treated with a cleansing agent, for wiping things clean.
• a cinematographic effect in which an existing picture seems to be wiped out by a new one as the boundary between them moves across the screen.
Origin:
Old English wīpian, of Germanic origin; related to whip.
