A complete failure or disappointing person; also a place where water has worn away soil, creating an erosion channel.
Compound of 'wash' (from Old English 'wascan') and 'out' (from Old English 'ūt'). As a noun referring to failure, it emerged in early 1900s American slang.
In geology, washouts tell the story of ancient floods and water patterns—geologists can date them, measure them, and read the layers of sediment to understand past weather events, making erosion into a kind of historical record.
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