rinse
v.v. to wash something quickly with clean water to remove soap, dirt, or food. You usually do this as the last step of cleaning.
v. to wash lightly with water, especially to remove soap or impurities. Often used as the final stage of a cleaning process.
Always rinse the dishes after washing them with soap.
After swimming in the ocean, you should rinse your hair to remove the salt and sand.
The laboratory protocol requires technicians to rinse the glassware three times with distilled water to ensure no chemical residue remains to contaminate the next experiment.
From Middle English rinsen, rincen, rencen (“to rinse”), from Old French rincier, reinser, Old Northern French raïncer (“to rinse, cleanse”). Of contested origin. Possibly from Old Norse hreinsa, from Proto-Germanic hrainisōną (“to clean, purify”), from Proto-Indo-European krey- (“to separate, divide”). Alternatively from a dissimilation of Old French recincier, from Latin recentare (“to make fresh”). Cognate with French rincer. From the Germanic verb are Danish rense, Norwegian rense, Swedish rensa (all “to clean”), Old High German reinisōn (“to clean, purify, atone”). It is related to German rein (“pure”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (hrains, “clean”), and English riddle. The Latin verb is related to recent.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. It can also be used with 'off' or 'out' to specify the removal of a substance.
rinse the soap from the platerinse the plateWhile you can rinse soap 'off', the direct object of 'rinse' is usually the object being cleaned, not the substance being removed.