Literary notes about WASHOUT (AI summary)
The word “washout” demonstrates remarkable versatility in literature. In some contexts it denotes a literal physical feature—an erosion of the land or a deep gully created by water, as seen when characters navigate or seek shelter at a natural washout ([1], [2]), or when a bridge is swept away by one ([3], [4]). In other instances, the term takes on a metaphorical meaning, referring to a complete failure or a disappointing outcome, whether it is a botched event or an unsuccessful attempt ([5], [6], [7]). Additionally, technical usages appear in the naming of specific fixtures like washout closets, emphasizing design and functionality ([8], [9]). This range of applications—from natural phenomena to metaphorical downturns and technical devices—highlights the rich and adaptable character of the term in literary usage.
- Hearing nothing I went on around a jutting point of rocks on a thicket-covered slope and stopped at the head of a washout, made by the summer rains.
— from The Lost Dispatch by Anonymous - Before sunrise they were forced to seek such concealment as they could find in a washout, a dry ravine, within sight and sound of the Indian camps.
— from Indian Fights and Fighters: The Soldier and the Sioux by Cyrus Townsend Brady - A big washout had swept away a bridge or embankment.
— from The American Missionary — Volume 39, No. 07, July, 1885 by Various - Since then a deep washout has worked its way to some distance above this point, making a long bridge necessary.
— from Archeological InvestigationsBureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 76 by Gerard Fowke - The much-heralded combat between Whiz Deagen and Carl Hemmer was proving a washout.
— from Down the Ice, and Other Winter Sports Stories by Harold M. (Harold Morrow) Sherman - “I dare say it’ll be a washout, but houses are scarce nowadays.”
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - Ordinarily a dead man was called a "washout"; or it was said that he had "copped it."
— from Trenching at Gallipoli The personal narrative of a Newfoundlander with the ill-fated Dardanelles expedition by John Gallishaw - The depth of the water at A is much greater than at the corresponding point in the washout closets; as a consequence fecal matter is almost submerged.
— from Mechanics of the HouseholdA Course of Study Devoted to Domestic Machinery and Household Mechanical Appliances by E. S. (Edward Spencer) Keene - The old-style washout closet was a pretty good assurance that the one gas would get in and that the other could not get out.
— from The Complete Home
