laundresses
Women washing linens
Laundresses is the plural of laundress, a woman who washes and irons clothes professionally.
The term belongs to an earlier era when laundering was a common occupation for working-class women: The hotel employed several laundresses.
Now largely historical, replaced by gender-neutral terms like laundry worker.
Female clothes cleaners
- charwomenFemale domestic cleaners
- domesticsHousehold service workers
- maidservantsFemale household employees
- housemaidsLive-in domestic cleaners
chambermaids · servants · hired · wages · employment · service · trade · profession
Ridged laundry surfaces
- manglesDisfigures or distorts severely
- wringersWater-extracting rollers
- tubsWide open containers
- bucketsOpen-top carrying vessels
basins · clotheslines · flatirons · paddles · coppers · dollies · pegs · starch
Cleaning by rubbing hard
- wringingTwisting to extract moisture
- toilStrenuous, prolonged effort
- drudgeryHard, boring work
- fatigueWeariness from prolonged exertion
backbreaking · strenuous · exertion · sweat · handwashing · soaking · rinsing · physical
Household fabric goods
- petticoatsUndergarments beneath skirts
- chemisesLoose, sleeveless undergarments
- blousesWomen's button-front tops
- shirtsUpper body garments
sheets · tablecloths · stockings · collars · cuffs · aprons · kerchiefs · undergarments
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- servitudeCompulsory labor under masters
- downstairsOn a lower floor
- workhousesLabor-based relief institutions
tenements · riverside · Thames · Seine · Ganges · colonial · plantations · manor
washerwomen
Female clothes cleaners
- charwomenFemale domestic cleaners
- domesticsHousehold service workers
- maidservantsFemale household employees
housemaids · chambermaids · servants · hired · wages · employment · service · trade · profession · working-class
washboards
Ridged laundry surfaces
buckets · basins · clotheslines · flatirons · paddles · coppers · dollies · pegs · starch · lye
scrubbing
Cleaning by rubbing hard
fatigue · backbreaking · strenuous · exertion · sweat · handwashing · soaking · rinsing · physical · chores
linens
Household fabric goods
- petticoatsUndergarments beneath skirts
- chemisesLoose, sleeveless undergarments
- blousesWomen's button-front tops
shirts · sheets · tablecloths · stockings · collars · cuffs · aprons · kerchiefs · undergarments · handkerchiefs
Victorian
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- servitudeCompulsory labor under masters
- downstairsOn a lower floor
workhouses · tenements · riverside · Thames · Seine · Ganges · colonial · plantations · manor · scullery
- servantsbutler, maid, servant, servants, domestics
- historical womenCleopatra, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Marie Curie
- manual laborfarming, lifting, carrying, shoveling, loading
- blue-collar jobsfactory work, factory worker, factory workers, construction, farm hand
- Colonial WomenAbigail Adams, Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher, goodwives
laundresseschimney sweeps
Those who clean smokestacks
coal miners · mudlarks · street sweepers · ditch diggers · ragpickers
laundressesmistresses
Female lovers outside marriage
employers · madams · society ladies · patrons · householders