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laundry

 - 4 dictionary results

laun⋅dry

[lawn-dree, lahn-]
–noun, plural -dries.
1. articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.
2. a business establishment where clothes, linens, etc., are laundered.
3. a room or area, as in a home or apartment building, reserved for doing the family wash.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME lavandrie < MF lavanderie. See launder, -y 3
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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laun·dry   (lôn'drē, län'-)   
n.   pl. laun·dries
  1. Soiled or laundered clothes and linens; wash.

    1. A commercial establishment for laundering clothes or linens.

    2. A room or an area, as in a house, for doing the wash.


[Middle English lavendrye, laundry, from Old French lavanderie, from lavandier; see launder.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

laundry 
c.1530, from O.Fr. lavanderie, from L. lavendaria, pl. of lavandarium "things to be washed," from lavare "to wash" (see lave). The verb launder "to wash linen" is from 1664; criminal banking sense first recorded 1961, from notion of making dirty money seem clean; brought to widespread use during Watergate scandal, 1973. Laundry list in figurative sense is from 1958. Laundromat is from 1943, originally a proprietary name by Westinghouse.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

laundry

see wash one's dirty linen (laundry).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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