laundress

noun

laun·​dress ˈlȯn-drəs How to pronounce laundress (audio)
ˈlän-
: a woman who is a laundry worker

Examples of laundress in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web From the 1850s onward, the artist was enthralled by the Parisian laundress—a working-class woman frequently seen washing and ironing goods and transferring heavy baskets in the bustling city streets. Stephanie Sporn, Vogue, 18 Aug. 2023 Kelley looks at the history of her own working-class ancestors, as well as the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who made up the world of Black labor. Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic, 7 Aug. 2023 His mother, Maria Ivanovna Kokurina, was a laundress and house cleaner, and his father, Mikhail Yakovlevich Zaitsev, was an entertainer and a poet before he was drafted into the Soviet Army during World War II. Penelope Green, New York Times, 13 May 2023 His father was a roofer, and his mother was a laundress. Terence McArdle, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2023 Yet unlike the Impressionists, who painted sweeping panoramas of Haussmann’s Paris, the Nabis, including Bonnard, zoomed in on tightly focused vignettes, like the little laundress, summarizing the city in visual fragments. Steven Litt, cleveland, 4 July 2021 The archivists’ dig into other records from the era reveal that Martinborough, who was originally from Charleston, S.C., worked a variety of jobs after moving into Boston’s South End, including as a waitress, laundress, and housekeeper. Ivy Scott, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Apr. 2023 Persil Discs Laundry Detergent Pacs Persil Discs Laundry Detergent Pacs are the best choice for any laundress looking for an effective and easy-to-use detergent. Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 1 Apr. 2023 Piecing together stories about women who managed the uncertainties and privations of their situations is even more difficult when the women in question have been enslaved and thus forbidden even the basic rights that an eighteenth-century Parisian laundress enjoyed. Brenda Wineapple, The New York Review of Books, 11 May 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'laundress.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1550, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of laundress was in 1550

Dictionary Entries Near laundress

Cite this Entry

“Laundress.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laundress. Accessed 9 Dec. 2023.

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