laundress

[lawn-dris, lahn-]

noun

1. a woman whose work is the washing and ironing of clothes, linens, etc.

laundress

/ ˈlɔːndrɪs /

noun

1. a woman who launders clothes, sheets, etc, for a living

Gender Note

See -ess.

Other Word Forms

• underlaundress noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of laundress¹

1540–50; obsolete launder launderer ( launder ) + -ess

Example Sentences

Most significantly, it overturned a New York minimum wage law in a decision known as Tipaldo, after its detestable protagonist, the owner of a laundry who had been cheating his laundresses of their legal wages.

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In a little over a year, my three-decade indenture as a full-time laundress will come to an end.

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Ethel Waters in 1949 became the second Black performer to score an Oscar nomination as an illiterate Southern laundress in “Pinky.”

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From emancipated sharecroppers to domestic servants, laundresses, blacksmiths and carpenters, Black laborers used apparel as a creative outlet amid dire conditions and despite limited resources, says the brand.

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His father was a roofer, and his mother was a laundress.

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