Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

washwoman

American  
[wosh-woom-uhn, wawsh-] / ˈwɒʃˌwʊm ən, ˈwɔʃ- /

noun

  • washwomen
    plural
  1. washerwoman.


washwoman British  
/ ˈwɒʃˌwʊmən /

noun

  1. a less common word for washerwoman

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of washwoman

First recorded in 1580–90; wash + -woman


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:

I remember once going to Washington Park with our washwoman to a Fourth of August celebration.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2018

The old "covered wagon," waddling under her sawed-off flying deck like a washwoman under a bundle, set off on the highest adventure of her career.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her mother was a washwoman in St. Louis, her father a porter.

From Time Magazine Archive

This procedure rubs the cloth samples as hard as any washing machine or washwoman can ever do.

From Time Magazine Archive

He gave her passes to visit the Parker plantation every New Year’s Day feast; Felice’s sister was a washwoman there.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

On the third day, just after lunch, the hands were recalled from the fields, the washwomen and cooks and stable hands interrupted from their tasks, the house staff diverted from its maintenance.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

One engineer with a government certificate could have saved the clerks, stenographers, widows, washwomen, and orphans of America fifteen million dollars at the cost of, say, five thousand.

From Stories from Everybody's Magazine by Various

Also, as at present, the washwomen were the despair of careful housekeepers.

From Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1 by William Walton

"Do they have washwomen in Hades?" asked Kismine innocently.

From Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

The other washwomen, all about her, observed her grief, and fell to whispering: "See how she's crying?"

From Their Son; The Necklace by Eduardo Zamacois

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember new words for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com