wipe away

wipe away

1. To clean or dry something away by rubbing or mopping. A noun or pronoun can be used between "wipe" and "away." He quickly wiped the tears away before entering the room. Make sure you wipe away the mud from the mirrors and windows before you start driving.
2. To eradicate, invalidate, or reset something back to nothing. A noun or pronoun can be used between "wipe" and "away." Two back-to-back goals have wiped away the home team's lead in a matter of minutes. The stock market crash wiped away everything we had earned that year.
3. To completely eliminate, eradicate, or destroy something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "wipe" and "away." The extreme weather conditions this winter have wiped away entire towns. Through our vaccination efforts, we've been able to wipe polio away across the entire continent.
See also: away, wipe
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

wipe something away

to clean or mop something away. Wipe all this mud away and scrub the floor clean. Jake wiped away the mud.
See also: away, wipe
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

wipe away

v.
1. To remove or eliminate something by wiping: I wiped away the child's tears. Dust had settled on the table, so I wiped it away.
2. To destroy or eliminate something as if by wiping: A strong hurricane wiped away the entire village. Mudslides wiped our home away.
3. To reduce something to zero; invalidate something: Business was so bad this year that it wiped away all our savings. I had a big lead in the bicycle race, but a sudden burst of speed by my opponent wiped it away.
See also: away, wipe
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • bring away
  • blaze away
  • blaze away at (someone or something)
  • bury away
  • chew away
  • boring
  • borne
  • bear away
  • chuck away
  • cut away
References in periodicals archive
But be careful: Some are complicated because they were designed for experts, and a too-quick click of a button may wipe away more than your target data files.
Erase old files safely and completely
For she notes that 'factories or tax-free assembly zones in the poorest countries of Central and South America and Asia emulate the worst conditions to be found in Victorian mills', and she compares the treatment of European industrial sites with the way in which in South Yorkshire, almost every trace of former activity has been erased, 'as if to wipe away memories of mining and the bitter disputes that hastened its end'.
Working model: factory
The Restoration was, after all, self-defined as no new thing under the sun, but an attempt to wipe away the years of Interregnum, to enact "Oblivion." The edifice of that Whig history which viewed the last Stuarts as a hesitant step in the triumphal progress of parliamentarianism has been sapped and mined by the revisionists of the 1980s and 1990s.
Alan Houston and Steve Pincus, eds. A Nation Transformed: England after the Restoration
"We know that God will wipe away all tears, and that mourning and pain will be no more.
Catholics and Jews to work together. (News in Brief: Vatican)
How-to: 1) Use a toothbrush to wipe away any sandy debris from shells.
The Lilly pad: splashed with creative cost-cutters and bold colors, Hayley's playful sophisticated bedroom is inspired by Lily Pulitzer's classic prints. (My Room)
Polish buildup and the dirt embedded in it muddy the finish but will wipe away. Don't use stronger solvents; they might dissolve the finish itself.
Fast furniture fixes: make those nicks and scratches go away with just a few minutes' work
But what is also obscured then revealed in the act of erasing is Simmons's own double consciousness: As the agent of these actions he embodies a positive sense of difference as well as the forces of assimilation that wipe away distinctions.
Gary Simmons
DUNFERMLINE are determined to climb off the bottom of the table because they want to wipe away the smile from the knockers faces.
ANDY VOWS TO FIRE BACK AT SNIPERS
In contrast to the widespread conviction that the passing years wipe away most recollections of concepts and facts learned in school, a new study has uncovered robust memories among former students for material learned in a college course after as long as 11 years.
School memories endure as time goes by
Summary: New Delhi [India] Sep 3(ANI): Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff's latest post will surely wipe away your Monday blues!
'Exhausted' Tiger shares still from 'SOTY 2'
DERBY 0 HULLCITY 3 Hernandez 30, Shackell og 40, Robertson 90 BY JAMES NURSEY MOSES ODUBAJO warned his Hull team-mates against complacency as he bids to wipe away the memory of his Wembley heartache.
DERBY 0 HULLCITY 3 [...]
The tears in our eyes we can wipe away but the ache in our hearts will never go away.
IN MEMORIAM
Run the sponge applicator down the lines of grouting, leave for a few minutes and then wipe away any excess.
TOP TIPS; Your say
As time goes by without you, a day turns into years, it does not ease my broken heart or wipe away my tears, no matter what I do, my day begins and ends with special thoughts of you.
IN MEMORIAM
The Chelsea captain is desperate to wipe away the memories once and for all by leading Avram Grant's side into the final for the first time.
Mersey misery a spur for Chelsea skipper; 'Win over Reds can ease burning feeling'