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laundress

American  
[lawn-dris, lahn-] / ˈlɔn drɪs, ˈlɑn- /

noun

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


laundress British  
/ ˈlɔːndrɪs /

noun

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

"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

Gender

See -ess.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of laundress

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 8, 2024

Folding the napkin might also indicate that your family did not have a laundress, so the napkins were used for several meals before washing, but that is hardly what one would call low-class.

From Washington Post Feb. 6, 2023

Reid was born Dec. 2, 1939, the son of an alcoholic hard-rock miner who killed himself at 58 and a mother who served as a laundress in a bordello.

From Seattle Times Dec. 28, 2021

Her father was later a caretaker and her mother a laundress and the owner of a boardinghouse.

From New York Times Nov. 28, 2021

“I’ll take her for my helper,” the laundress said.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine

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