浴びる-Transitivity


I read that 浴びる is a transitive verb, but if it means to clean, then shouldn't
it's object be what's be washed? The examples I see have the object of the
verb as what one is using to wash with or bathe in, e.g. water, sunshine.




The verb 浴びる expresses something like _be showered with [DirectObject]_.
Common literal uses include liquids such as water (水を、シャワーを) and rays of light
(光を、日光を、月光を、日差しを), although it can be used with anything you can be showered
by. It doesn't need to be translated as _showered by_ , though; 月光を浴びた could
be _bathed in moonlight_ , _basked in the moonlight_ , etc.

This verb can also be used more figuratively. For example, the object can
represent criticism (非難を、批判を), cheers or applause (称賛を、喝采を), or attention
(注目を). Any of these could be translated with _shower_ figuratively in English:
_she was showered with attention_ or _showered with praise_ , and so on.

Note that this doesn't translate very well to _clean_. Although you're likely
to get clean if you _take a shower_ , you're not so likely to be cleaned by
_having praise rained upon you_ or by _basking in moonlight_.

You can, however, use an object to express what is being showered upon. To do
so, you need to use the ditransitive causative verb corresponding to 浴びる,
which is 浴びせる. This verb means something like _cause [IndirectObject] to be
showered by [DirectObject]_. And as you might expect, the indirect object of
浴びせる is marked with に. Here are a few examples adapted from
[ALC](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E6%B5%B4%E3%81%B3%E3%81%9B%E3%82%8B&ref=sa)
putting it all together:

> 〜にガラスの破片を浴びせる  
>  _shower 〜 with shards of glass_
>
> 〜に称賛を浴びせる  
>  _rain praise upon 〜_
>
> 〜に罵声を浴びせる  
>  _shout abuse at 〜_
>
> 〜に唐辛子スプレーを浴びせる  
>  _douse 〜 in pepper spray_

