launder
to wash (clothes, linens, etc.).
to wash and iron (clothes).
Informal.
to disguise the source of (illegal or secret funds or profits), usually by transmittal through a foreign bank or a complex network of intermediaries.
to disguise the true nature of (a transaction, operation, or the like) by routing money or goods through one or more intermediaries.
to remove embarrassing or unpleasant characteristics or elements from in order to make more acceptable: He'll have to launder his image if he wants to run for office.
to wash laundry.
to undergo washing and ironing: The shirt didn't launder well.
(in ore dressing) a passage carrying products of intermediate grade and residue in water suspension.
Metallurgy. a channel for conveying molten steel to a ladle.
Origin of launder
1Other words from launder
- laun·der·a·ble, adjective
- laun·der·a·bil·i·ty, noun
- laun·der·er, noun
- re·laun·der, verb (used with object)
- un·laun·dered, adjective
- well-laundered, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use launder in a sentence
Accused money launderer in the soccer-mom madam case has a colorful past.
You, Cale and Richards, run to fetch a launderer that shall set a mattress in the ante-chamber for this my cousin to lie on.
The Fifth Queen Crowned | Ford Madox FordAfter due reflection I decided to start as a launderer, specialising in washing shirts at ten pfennigs, or one penny, apiece.
Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons | Henry Charles Mahoney
British Dictionary definitions for launder
/ (ˈlɔːndə) /
to wash, sometimes starch, and often also iron (clothes, linen, etc)
(intr) to be capable of being laundered without shrinking, fading, etc
(tr) to process (something acquired illegally) to make it appear respectable, esp to process illegally acquired funds through a legitimate business or to send them to a foreign bank for subsequent transfer to a home bank
a water trough, esp one used for washing ore in mining
Origin of launder
1Derived forms of launder
- launderer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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