I. rinse 1 /rɪns/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: rincer , perhaps from Vulgar Latin recentiare , from Latin recens ; ⇨ ↑ recent ]
1 . to wash clothes, dishes, vegetables etc quickly with water, especially running water, and without soap:
Let me just rinse my hands.
Rinse the vegetables under a cold tap.
rinse something out
Don’t forget to rinse out your swimsuit.
2 . to remove soap, dirt etc from something by washing it quickly with water
rinse something off/out/away etc
Leave the shampoo for two minutes, then rinse it off with warm water.
I rinsed the mud out under the tap.
The cream rinses off easily.
3 . to put colour into your hair SYN dye
4 . if you rinse your mouth, or rinse your mouth out, you wash it by filling it with water and then ↑ spit ting the water out ⇨ gargle
II. rinse 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . [countable] when you rinse something:
I gave my hands a quick rinse.
2 . [uncountable and countable] a product you use to change the colour of your hair or to make it more shiny SYN dye :
a blue rinse for grey hair