launder

English

WOTD – 5 October 2007

Etymology

Contracted from Middle English lavender, from Old French lavandiere, from Late Latin lavandena, from Latin lavō (“I wash”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːndə/
• (some accents) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːndə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔndɚ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑndɚ/

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɔːndə(ɹ), -ɑːndə(ɹ)

Noun

launder (plural launders)

1. (obsolete) A washerwoman or washerman.
2. (mining) A trough used by miners to receive powdered ore from the box where it is beaten, or for carrying water to the stamps, or other apparatus for comminuting (sorting) the ore.
3. A trough or channel carrying water to the wheel of a watermill.

   Synonym: inlayer

4. A gutter (for rainwater).

Synonyms

• (washerwoman): launderer, laundress, washerwoman

Translations

washerwoman — see washerwoman

trough used by miners to carry material

• Bulgarian: корито за промиване n (korito za promivane)
• Finnish: ränni (fi)

trough or channel carrying water to the wheel of a watermill

• Finnish: ränni (fi)

gutter for rainwater — see gutter

Verb

launder (third-person singular simple present launders, present participle laundering, simple past and past participle laundered)

1. To wash; to wash, and to smooth with a flatiron or mangle; to wash and iron.
2. (obsolete) To lave; to wet.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     Oft did she heave her napkin to her eyne, / Which on it had conceited characters, / Laundering the silken figures in the brine

4. (money) To disguise the source of (ill-gotten wealth) by various means.

Derived terms

• money laundering

Translations

to wash and iron

• Azerbaijani: yumaq (az)
• Bulgarian: пера (bg) (pera)
• Catalan: rentar (ca), fer la bugada
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 洗 (zh)

• Crimean Tatar: yuvmaq
• Finnish: pyykätä ja silittää
• French: blanchir (fr)
• German: waschen (de)
• Latin: lavō (la)
• Polish: prać (pl), uprać
• Portuguese: lavar (pt)
• Spanish: lavar (es), hacer la colada
• Thai: ซักอบรีด (sák-òp-rîit)
• Ukrainian: пра́ти impf (práty), ви́прати pf (výpraty)

to wet

• Latin: lavō (la)

to disguise the source of

• Azerbaijani: yumaq (az)
• Bulgarian: пера (bg) (pera)
• Catalan: blanquejar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: pestä (fi)
• German: waschen (de)
• Hungarian: pénzt mos
• Khmer: លាង (km) (liəng)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hvitvaske

• Portuguese: branquear (pt)
• Russian: отмывать (ru) (otmyvatʹ)
• Thai: ฟอก (th) (fɔ̂ɔk)
• Ukrainian: відмива́ти impf (vidmyváty), відми́ти pf (vidmýty)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Related terms

• launderer
• launderette
• laundress
• laundry
• lave

References

• “launder”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “launder”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Arundel, lurdane, rundale

Middle English

Noun

launder

1. Alternative form of lavender