whitewash

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A mixture of lime and water, often with whiting, size, or glue added, that is used to whiten walls, fences, or other structures.
2. n. Concealment or palliation of flaws or failures.
3. n. A defeat in a game in which the loser scores no points.
4. v. To paint or coat with or as if with whitewash.
5. v. To conceal or gloss over (wrongdoing, for example). See Synonyms at palliate.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A wash or loose superficial deposit of white boulders and pebbles of quartz and sericite-schist which appears on the hillsides above the gold-bearing creeks of the Klondike and is itself auriferous. See the extract.
2. n. A wash or liquid composition for whitening something. Especially
3. n. A composition of quicklime and water, or, for more careful work, of whiting, size, and water, used for whitening the plaster of walls, woodwork, etc., or as a freshening coating for any surface. It is not used for fine work.
4. n. False coloring, as of character, alleged services, etc.; the covering up of wrong-doing or defects: as, the investigating committee applied a thick coat of whitewash.
5. n. In base-ball and other games, a contest in which one side fails to score.
6. To cover with a white liquid composition, as with lime and water, etc.
7. To make white; give a fair external appearance to; attempt to clear from imputations; attempt to restore the reputation of.
8. To clear by a judicial process (an insolvent or bankrupt) of the debts he owes.
9. In base-ball, etc., to beat in a game in which the opponents fail to score.
10. To become coated with a white inflorescence, as some bricks.

Wiktionary

1. n. A lime and water mixture for painting walls and fences bright white.
2. n. sports A complete victory or series of victories without suffering any losses; a clean sweep.
3. v. To paint over with a lime and water mixture so as to brighten up a wall or fence.
4. v. idiomatic To cover over errors or bad actions.
5. v. baseball, slang, dated, late, 19th century, archaic To prevent a team from scoring any runs.
6. v. acting To choose white film or television actors to portray characters that were Asian, African, or other races.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Any wash or liquid composition for whitening something, as a wash for making the skin fair.
2. n. A composition of line and water, or of whiting size, and water, or the like, used for whitening walls, ceilings, etc.; milk of lime.
3. n. a glossing over or cover up (of crimes or misfeasance).
4. v. To apply a white liquid composition to; to whiten with whitewash.
5. v. To make white; to give a fair external appearance to; to clear from imputations or disgrace; hence, to clear (a bankrupt) from obligation to pay debts.
6. v. Colloq., U. S. In various games, to defeat (an opponent) so that he fails to score, or to reach a certain point in the game; to skunk.
7. v. to gloss over or cover up (crimes or misfeasance).

WordNet 3.0

1. v. exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data
2. v. cover with whitewash
3. n. wash consisting of lime and size in water; used for whitening walls and other surfaces
4. n. a specious or deceptive clearing that attempts to gloss over failings and defects
5. v. cover up a misdemeanor, fault, or error
6. n. a defeat in which the losing person or team fails to score