Learn English – the origin of the word “whitewash” in the context of sports

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The term whitewash is used in sports to describe a situation where the opponents are beaten in a series of matches failing to register a single win.

Merriam-Webster defines it as :-

to hold (an opponent) scoreless in a game or contest

What is the history of the word when used in sports? Is there some racist undertone to the term?

Best Answer

There's nothing racist about it. The figurative use comes from the literal use of applying a kind of white paint to walls, from the 16th century as a verb. This was then used figuratively to mean to cover up faults, blemishes, or otherwise give a fair appearance (18th century as a verb).

The sporting use is applied when the loser fails to score, or loses all the games in a series, or more loosely is beaten by a large margin, and comes from baseball. The OED's first citations for the noun and the verb are both 1867:

1867 Chicago Republican 6 July 2/6 The Unions were whitewashed 3 times, and the Forest Citys 5 times.

1867 N.Y. Clipper 31 Aug. 164/2 The first ‘whitewash’ of the [baseball] game was drawn by the Mutuals.

In the verb case, it says the beaten team were whitewashed. This is analogous to their part of the scoreboard remaining clean and blank.

I found an antedating from the year before in the Cleveland Daily Leader, June 18, 1866, Morning Edition, "Baseball":

The fifth and sixth innings resulted favorably to Cleveland. The seventh was a whitewash for both clubs. The eighth, which was by mutual agreement the last, added seven to the score of each, and the final result stood: Forest City, 40; Reserve 26.

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