scrubbing, scrub-a-dub / scraping

(literary) they (about women or girls)

(colloquial) a girlfriend (a female partner in a romantic relationship)

(formal) Female third-person singular pronoun; she, her, girlfriend

to wash

plate; dish

dish, plate

plate, dish

(literary) they (about women or girls)

(idiomatic) go straight, quit a shady business, wash one's hands of some work or lifestyle which is less than respectable / (idiomatic, neologism) quit a business (regardless of its respectability)