launder

[lawn-der, lahn-]

verb (used with object)

1. to wash (clothes, linens, etc.).

2. to wash and iron (clothes).

3. Informal.

   1. to disguise the source of (illegal or secret funds or profits), usually by transmittal through a foreign bank or a complex network of intermediaries.

   2. to disguise the true nature of (a transaction, operation, or the like) by routing money or goods through one or more intermediaries.

4. 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)

1. to wash laundry.

2. to undergo washing and ironing.

   The shirt didn't launder well.

noun

1. (in ore dressing) a passage carrying products of intermediate grade and residue in water suspension.

2. Metallurgy.,  a channel for conveying molten steel to a ladle.

launder

/ ˈlɔːndə /

verb

1. to wash, sometimes starch, and often also iron (clothes, linen, etc)

2. (intr) to be capable of being laundered without shrinking, fading, etc

3. (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

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

Other Word Forms

• launderable adjective
• launderability noun
• launderer noun
• relaunder verb (used with object)
• unlaundered adjective
• well-laundered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of launder¹

1300–50; 1970–75 launder 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; -er ² )

Word History and Origins

Origin of launder¹

C14 (n, meaning: a person who washes linen): changed from lavender washerwoman, from Old French lavandiere, ultimately from Latin lavāre to wash

Example Sentences

John Hurley, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, stopped in the U.A.E. and Turkey before visiting Lebanon earlier this month to discuss combating Iranian money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A money laundering report by a credit institution alerted investigators to the suspected theft.

Read more on BBC

And when he discovered neighbours on his Cheshire street had also been receiving suspicious mail they soon found out they were likely being targeted as part of a wider, sophisticated money laundering scam.

Read more on BBC

The partners of Berry and Cross were also handed suspended sentences, having admitted money laundering offences.

Read more on BBC

He upset the status quo, attacked the PGA Tour and the golf establishment, and found himself defending LIV from allegations that it was merely an instrument for Saudi Arabia to launder its global image.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal