launder

[lawn-der, lahn-]

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verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

to wash laundry.

to undergo washing and ironing: The shirt didn't launder well.

noun

(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

1300–50; 1970–75 for def 3; Middle English: launderer, syncopated variant of lavandere, lavendere washer of linen < Middle French lavandier(e) < Medieval Latin lavandārius (masculine), lavandāria (feminine), equivalent to Latin lavand- (gerund stem of lavāre to wash) + -ārius, -āria -ary; see -er²)

Related formslaun·der·a·ble, adjectivelaun·der·a·bil·i·ty, nounlaun·der·er, nounre·laun·der, verb (used with object)un·laun·dered, adjectivewell-laun·dered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for launder

cleanse, clean, rinse

Examples from the Web for launder

Contemporary Examples of launder

He owns at least one tire repair shop, a cash-heavy business that makes it easy to invent receipts and launder money.
The Devil’s Drug: The True Story of Meth in New Mexico
Nick Romeo
August 24, 2013
Such actions are, in a sense, allowing Switzerland to launder its reputation.
The End of Swiss Discretion
Eric Pape
October 1, 2009

Historical Examples of launder

The name Lander or Launder is unconnected with these (see p.186).
The Romance of Names
Ernest Weekley
Launder, in his Voyage to India, p. 81, saw one erected in a tank of water.
The Round Towers of Ireland
Henry O'Brien
Also he had towels for his own personal use and those he managed to launder, somehow.
The Cinder Pond
Carroll 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 Metallica
Georgius 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 Limberlost
Gene Stratton Porter

British Dictionary definitions for launder

launder

verb

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

noun

a water trough, esp one used for washing ore in mining

Derived Formslaunderer, noun

Word Origin for launder

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

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.