to disguise the source of (illegal or secret funds or profits), usually by transmittal through a foreign bank or a complex network of intermediaries.
b.
to disguise the true nature of (a transaction, operation, or the like) by routing money or goods through one or more intermediaries.
4.
to remove embarrassing or unpleasant characteristics or elements from in order to make more acceptable: He'll have to launder his image if he wants to run for office.
(in ore dressing) a passage carrying products of intermediate grade and residue in water suspension.
8.
Metallurgy. a channel for conveying molten steel to a ladle.
Origin: 1300–50; 1970–75 for def. 3;Middle English: launderer, syncopated variant of lavandere, lavendere washer of linen < Middle French lavandier(e) < Medieval Latin lavandārius (masculine), lavandāria (feminine), equivalent to Latin lavand- (gerund stem of lavāre to wash) + -ārius, -āria-ary; see -er2)
"to wash linen," 1660s; see laundry. Criminal banking sense first recorded 1961, from notion of making dirty money seem clean; brought to widespread use during U.S. Watergate scandal, 1973. Related: Laundered; laundering.
tv. to conceal the source and nature of stolen or illicitly gotten money by moving it in and out of different financial institutions. (Underworld. See also greenwash.) : The woman's sole function was to launder the money from drug deals.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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