† washestern.
Obsolete.
A female washer (of linen), a washerwoman: in Old English also applied to a man.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > one who washes clothes > a woman
washesterc900
laundress1555
washwoman1590
washmaidc1610
buck-washer1611
laundrya1616
laundry-maid1632
washerwoman1632
washing-woman1782
washer-wife1800
lavandera1841
laundry-woman1863
washer-maiden1876
washer-girl1907
c900 Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. iii. viii. 191 Iobinus, se wæs min wæscestre [L. fullo].
c900 Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. iv. xii. 276 Se mæssepreost..wæs lufigende his wæscestran [L. presbyteram] swa swa his agne swuster.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 57 Quod melius patefacit exemplar lotricum, and þis us doð to understonden þe forbisne of þe wasshestren.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.c900