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# washerwoman

noun (a washerwoman, washerwomen)

«washerwoman» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A woman whose job, in the past, was washing other people's clothes and sheets by hand, for money. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#m1)
2. In The Wind in the Willows, Toad escapes from prison disguised as a washerwoman, wearing the gaoler's daughter's aunt's cotton dress, shawl and bonnet. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#m2)

### In the lessons

Before washing machines, washing clothes was hard work: water was heated, clothes were scrubbed on a washboard, wrung through a mangle and hung to dry. Poorer women did this for richer families. In history lessons the word shows how people lived and worked in Victorian and Edwardian times. In the story, the disguise is funny because proud Toad has to pretend to be a hard-working woman, and he fails when a barge-woman asks him to wash her clothes and he cannot.

### Examples

- The washerwoman carried a big basket of sheets down to the river. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x1)
- Toad dressed up as a washerwoman to get out of the prison. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x2)
- The washerwoman's hands were red from the hot water and soap. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x3)
- In Victorian times, many poor women worked as washerwomen. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x4)
- The barge-woman laughed when she saw that the washerwoman could not wash a single shirt. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x5)
- The gaoler's daughter's aunt was a washerwoman. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x6)
- Old pictures show a washerwoman scrubbing clothes on a washboard. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x7)
- The old washerwoman put her head in at the door, and nodded to him quite kindly, and said, "Many thanks, you good child, for your help yesterday. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/#x8)

### Note

Plural is washerwomen (like woman — women). It is an old-fashioned word; today we say a laundry worker or use a laundry or laundrette. Do not mix it up with a washing machine.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «washerwoman» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/washerwoman/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«washerwoman» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/washerwoman.html) on Mova free.