launder
[lawn-der, lahn-]
- 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.
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- to wash laundry.
- to undergo washing and ironing: The shirt didn't launder well.
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- (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.
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Origin of launder
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for launder
Contemporary Examples
He owns at least one tire repair shop, a cash-heavy business that makes it easy to invent receipts and launder money.
Such actions are, in a sense, allowing Switzerland to launder its reputation.
Historical Examples
The name Lander or Launder is unconnected with these (see p.186).
The Romance of NamesErnest Weekley
Launder, in his Voyage to India, p. 81, saw one erected in a tank of water.
The Round Towers of IrelandHenry O'Brien
Also he had towels for his own personal use and those he managed to launder, somehow.
The Cinder PondCarroll Watson Rankin
The mud which settles in the launder, if the ore is rich, is taken up and washed in a jigging-sieve or on a canvas strake.
De Re MetallicaGeorgius Agricola
Margaret Sinton came that night bringing a beautiful blue one in its place, and carried away the other to launder.
A Girl Of The LimberlostGene Stratton Porter
launder
- 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
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- a water trough, esp one used for washing ore in mining
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Word Origin
C14 (n, meaning: a person who washes linen): changed from lavender washerwoman, from Old French lavandiere, ultimately from Latin lavāre to wash
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
Word Origin and History for launder
v.
1660s, "to wash linen," from noun launder "one who washes" (especially linen), mid-15c., a contraction of lavender, from Old French lavandier "washer, launderer," from Medieval Latin lavandaria "a washer," ultimately from Latin lavare "to wash" (see lave). Criminal banking sense first recorded 1961, from notion of making dirty money seem clean; brought to widespread use during U.S. Watergate scandal, 1973. Related: Laundered; laundering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper