wipe up
wipe up — idiom
1. to use a cloth, towel, or sponge to soak up and remove liquid that has been acci
to use a cloth, towel, or sponge to soak up and remove liquid that has been accidentally spilled on a surface such as a table, floor, or counter.
Camille used a paper towel to wipe up the milk she had knocked over.
wipe up + liquid noun (milk)
The waiter hurried over with a cloth to wipe up the spilled wine before it stained the carpet.
purpose: to prevent damage from liquid
Sayaka grabbed a sponge and wiped the puddle of water up from the bathroom floor.
separable: wiped + noun + up
A neighbour brought a mop and helped Ravi wipe up the flood of water from the broken pipe.
large spill: mop instead of cloth
- wipe up a spill
- wipe up liquid
- wipe up water
- wipe up the mess
- wipe up wine/coffee/milk
Grammar Patterns
wipe up + noun phrase
wipe + noun phrase + up
Usage Note
The object (the liquid or spill) can come either after 'up' or between 'wipe' and 'up': 'wipe up the spill' or 'wipe the spill up'. This sense is strongly associated with liquids — for dry messes (crumbs, dust) use the phrasal verb sense instead.
Common Mistakes
wipe up — phrasal verb
- wipe upbase form
- wipes up3rd person singular
- wiping up-ing form
- wiped uppast simple
1. to clean a surface with a cloth or towel, removing food, dirt, crumbs, or other
to clean a surface with a cloth or towel, removing food, dirt, crumbs, or other unwanted matter and leaving the area dry and tidy.
After breakfast, Tendai wiped up the toast crumbs from the kitchen counter.
wipe up + solid particles (crumbs)
Gabriel asked the children to wipe up the sticky fingerprint marks they had left on the glass door.
purpose: remove marks/residue from a surface
Dahlia took a damp cloth and wiped the muddy footprints up from the hallway tiles.
separable: wiped + noun + up
Hannah filled a bucket with soapy water and wiped up the greasy stove top after cooking.
wipe up + greasy residue from cooking
- wipe up the counter
- wipe up the table
- wipe up crumbs
- wipe up a mess
- wipe up dirt
- wipe up the floor
- clean up
more general; can involve sweeping, scrubbing, or other methods, not just a cloth
- clear away
focuses on removing objects rather than cleaning the surface itself
Grammar Patterns
wipe up + noun phrase
wipe + noun phrase + up
Usage Note
Unlike the idiom sense, this phrasal verb is used for both wet and dry messes on a surface. The focus is on leaving the surface clean rather than on absorbing a liquid. The separable structure ('wipe the counter up' / 'wipe up the counter') works with both concrete objects ('crumbs', 'dirt') and general references ('the mess').
Common Mistakes
Etymology
Formed from the verb 'wipe' (from Old English 'wipian', meaning to clean or rub) and the adverb particle 'up', which adds the sense of completion or thoroughness — wiping something up means wiping it completely away. The phrasal verb has been in use since the 1300s.