coin-operated

[koin-op-uh-rey-tid]

adjective

Informal.

1. Also coin-op activated by inserting a coin or coins into a slot.

   a coin-operated washing machine.

noun

1. a coin-operated machine.

2. a place with such machines, especially a self-service laundry.

Word History and Origins

Origin of coin-operated¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Thousands of motels once advertised coin-operated vibrating mattresses and other phenomena from last century.

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Mom would drive into Santa Monica to wash and fold mountains of towels, socks and underwear at a coin-operated laundry on Montana Avenue.

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Watch it rise in the sky from the Griffith Observatory, which has free public telescopes as well as coin-operated ones.

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For the zoomers reading, that’s a coin-operated phone you can use to make calls.

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While in line to pay, I watch children take turns on the coin-operated Sandy horse.

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