washerwoman

From washer +‎ -woman.

washerwoman (plural washerwomen)

1. A woman who washes people's laundry.

   Synonym: laundress

   Coordinate term: washerman

   • 1810, [anonymous] […], chapter XXVIII, in Splendid Follies. A Novel, […]. Founded on Facts., volume III, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, pages 123–124:

     ‘I wish it would rain,’ continued she; ‘only we are going to have a six-week’s wash to-morrow, and that’s a heavy job for the poor creatures. La! don’t you pity washerwomen in hot weather; it’s the hardest work that’s done.’

2. (colloquial) A double drummer, large cicada of Australia, of species Thopha saccata.
3. A weedy plant of the Americas (Alternanthera caracasana).

• washerwomanly
• washerwoman's itch

• washerwoman on Wikipedia.Wikipedia