1590s, "to wash a building surface with white liquid," from white (adj.) + wash (v.). Figurative sense of "to cover up, conceal, give a false appearance of cleanness to" is attested from 1762. Related: Whitewashed; whitewashing. The noun is recorded from 1690s; in the figurative sense from 1851. The earlier verb was whitelime (c. 1300).
雙語例句
1. The report's findings were condemned as total whitewash.
這份報告最后的結論被譴責為徹頭徹尾的粉飾。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The opposition claimed the report was a whitewash.
反對派聲稱這份報告文過飾非。
來自《權威詞典》
3. They tried hard to whitewash themselves.
他們力圖粉飾自己.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. What he said was a load of whitewash.
他所說的是一大堆粉飾之詞.
來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》
5. He pledged that there would be no whitewash and that the police would carry out a full investigation.