wipe

Wipe has several related meanings tied to cleaning, media, and data erasure. As a verb, to wipe means to remove liquid, dirt, or residue by rubbing with a cloth or absorbing material; to wipe a surface is to clean it, and to wipe away tears or sweat means to remove them.

As a noun, a wipe can be a disposable cleansing cloth impregnated with detergents or sanitizers, such as wet wipes, baby wipes, or disinfecting wipes. Wipes are designed for convenience and portability.

In film and television, a wipe is a transitional effect where one scene replaces another as a boundary element—often a line, shape, or graphic that moves across the screen. Wipes are one of several formal transitions and can convey stylistic or narrative changes; they contrast with cuts or dissolves.

In computing, a data wipe, or disk wipe, refers to methods used to render data unrecoverable by erasing or overwriting storage media. Professional or enterprise contexts use standardized procedures to meet data-sanitization requirements; improper wiping can leave residual data.

Other uses include phrases like “wipe the slate clean” to denote starting anew, or “wipe test” in manufacturing as a quality check of residue removal. The term is widely used in everyday language and in specialized fields, with meanings linked by the core idea of removing material, information, or a boundary between states.