washerwoman

American  

[wosh-er-woom-uhn, waw-sher-] / ˈwɒʃ ərˌwʊm ən, ˈwɔ ʃər- /

noun

plural

washerwomen

1. a woman who washes clothes, linens, etc., for hire; laundress.

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washerwoman British  

/ ˈwɒʃəˌwʊmən /

noun

1. a person who washes clothes for a living

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Gender

See -woman.

Etymology

Origin of washerwoman

First recorded in 1625–35; washer + -woman

Example Sentences

McCarty worked for 75 years as a washerwoman and donated the majority of her life savings to the university after her death in 1999 at the age of 91.

From Washington Times • Oct. 9, 2020

Rigid social and ethnic demarcations begin to bend when the matriarch of a wealthy white family in New Rochelle, N.Y., provides shelter to an African American washerwoman who is scared and alone after giving birth.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2019

Each morning, Watson wakes from his spot on the floor to clean the house for his washerwoman employer before taking to the streets to sell water.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 4, 2017

When I arrived at the Delft train station, I noticed a woman dressed in 17th-century washerwoman garb, quietly sweeping up the very modern entry hall with a broom made of a birch branch.

From New York Times • Jun. 29, 2016

Inside, the parlor is a thicket of people—all the boarders of the house and even more: My aunt’s suffragette friends are here, and the washerwoman who comes for the bedclothes.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse