Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A woman who washes clothes and linens for a living.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A woman who washes clothes for others or for hire.
- noun The dishwasher or washdish. a wagtail. See cut under
wagtail .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A woman who washes clothes, especially for hire, or for others.
- noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The pied wagtail; -- so called in allusion to its beating the water with its tail while tripping along the leaves of water plants.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
woman who washes other people'slaundry forpayment .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a working woman who takes in washing
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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This Scutari washerwoman is no exception to the rule, and welcomes me most heartily.
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"Afternoon, ser Cerryl!" called the washerwoman who had set her basket on the narrow porch of Esad's-a store of odd items, neither a chandlery nor a miller's market nor a weaver's shop, but a place that held items partaking selectedly of all.
Colors of Chaos Modesitt, L. E. 1999
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Your washerwoman is a lady, and your coalman a Chesterfield.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 099, March, 1876 Various
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The washerwoman is the "wash-lady", and is just as much a lady as her mistress.
America, through the spectacles of an Oriental diplomat Tingfang Wu 1882
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And she talked, seized with a ferocious gaiety, recalling a washerwoman's song,
L'Assommoir ��mile Zola 1871
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Let Carlyle have the credit of using the word "washerwoman" as a term of contempt, as though to do laundry-work were not quite as necessary as to produce literature.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 7 Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Orators Elbert Hubbard 1885
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But patent buttons are invented, and collar-buttons that cannot be ironed off by the "washerwoman," supply a long-felt want.
A Little Girl of Long Ago Amanda Minnie Douglas 1873
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In the interim, Miss Fanny had been picked up in the street, for the fourth time, by a benevolent "washerwoman," who happened to be passing by at the moment; had been conveyed to the said washerwoman's lodgings; and now appeared before us, despoiled, at last, of all the glories of the red polka, enveloped from head to foot in clouds of white muslin, and dying with frightful rapidity in an armchair.
Rambles Beyond Railways; or, Notes in Cornwall taken A-foot Wilkie Collins 1856
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MELBOURNE AFP - Oprah Winfrey's production company asked a Melbourne shop to remove golliwog "washerwoman" dolls from display fearing the talk-show queen would take offence, reports said Thursday.
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I say we sneak him out, disguise him as an old washerwoman.
So Much Pretty Cara Hoffman 2011
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