Forms: 4 ? waschere, 5–6 wassher (5 wasscher, 6 waysher), 6 Sc. weschear, veschiar, 7 Sc. wascher, 6– washer. [f. WASH v. + -ER1.
An OE. wæscere is given by Sweet, A. S. Dict., but no example has been found, though the existence of the word is probable: cf. WASHESTER.]
1. One who washes.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, III. 306. Mediatrix, Menesse of men, and wassher of synnes.
1572. Huloet (ed. Higins), Washer, lotor.
1706. Baynard, in Sir J. Floyer, Hot & Cold Bath., II. 263. No Men live so long and healthful, as the Washers and Dablers in Cold Water.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 55. The lowliness of a washer of feet.
1770. G. White, Selborne, To Barrington, 8 Oct. Common house-sparrows … are great washers.
1886. Daily News, 16 Sept., 8/5. Good Laundrymaid Wanted in a private house. Must be a good washer and ironer.
1909. Daily Chron., 24 March, 4/6. In these days when washing is made either a fad or a religion, according to the temperament of the washer.
† 2. One who sweats coin. See WASH v. 8. Obs.
[1414. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 35/2. Les lavours, tonsours, & contrefaitours del monie de la Terre.]
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 19. And we denounce acursed alle makeres of fals monye, & clypperes, and wasscherys.
1534. Act 26 Hen. VIII., c. 6 § 6. There to cause all suche counterfaytors, washers, clyppers of money … to be indyted.
1771. Encycl. Brit., III. 256/1. Clippers and washers of coin.
3. One whose occupation or profession is the cleansing of materials, vessels, etc.
1515. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., V. 20. Ane fynour, weschear, and meltar of gold.
[a. 1529–: see DISH-WASHER 1.]
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), 34. Shewes the washing by them [the silk-throwsters], who washed away the gum. Then the dyer was founde out to add that to the weight what the washers had taken away, which the washer coulde not doe.
1807. E. S. Waring, Tour to Sheeraz, 21. A Moordu-Sho (a washer of dead bodies).
1844. M. T. Asmar, Mem. Babyl. P’cess, II. 176. ‘Wherefore,’ said the washer of skins, ‘thou seest, a marvellous change was wrought in me.’
† b. A person employed to wash and ‘get up’ household linen, a launderer or laundress. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 287/1. Wassher of gownes, relaueur.
1557. Order of Hospitalls, G ij. Yow shall geue diligent heede that the said Washers and Nurses of this Howse be alwaies well occupied.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. ii. 5. One Mistris Quickly; which is in the manner of his Nurse;… or his Laundry; his Washer, and his Ringer.
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, II. ii. Two of my wife’s foul smocks going to the washers.
1642. St. Mary le Bow (Durham), Par. Reg., Margarett the washer bur. 15 May.
1732. Fielding, Covent Gard. Trag., I. ix. Thus burning from the fire, the washer lifts The red-hot iron to make smooth her shifts.
1775. S. J. Pratt, Liberal Opin., lxxii. (1783), III. 34. A girl in Hedge-lane, who owed some three or four pound to her washer.
c. One who washes sheep before shearing.
1520. in Archæologia, XXV. 437. Item pd to Barnaby Bryse … for castyng inne ye shepe to ye wayshers viij d.
1612. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 200. To the washers of the sheepe, vje.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 18. One good washer will … wash sixe score or sixe score and tenne [sheep] in a day.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 788. The rude grasp of the relentless washer.
d. One who washes (ore, alluvial soil, etc.) as a mining operation.
1531–2. [see BUDDLE sb.2].
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 212. These wasshers [at the gold mines] for the moste parte, are the Indian women.
1609. in Cochran-Patrick, Early Rec. Mining Scot. (1878), 143. Waschers with the seiff. Ibid. Dressaris and wascheris with the buddill, wascheris with the canves.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., N 3 b. And the washer always keeps a Lay of this over the Bottom of the Seive.
1849. Lever, Con Cregan, xxii. Others rarely rise above the rank of mere ‘washers’—men employed to sift the … deposits of the rivers in which the chief product is gold-dust.
1870. J. O. Tucker, Mute, 10. A thousand washers in their rude array Bend to a toil and none superior knew.
e. One who is employed in a stable-yard, cab or omnibus depôt, etc., to wash down the vehicles after use.
1868. Daily News, 8 Sept. Besides the yard money … we must give the horsekeeper at least 3d., the washer 2d.
1884. Bath Jrnl., 26 July, 7/3. On returning to the yard at night he has to stump up … a tip … of three pence to the washer.
f. with advs.
1859. K. Cornwallis, Panorama New World, I. 323. Wanted, a Washer-up.—Victoria Dining-rooms.
1881. M. Reynolds, Engine-driving Life, 132. Another gang of men, known as washers-out, set to and clean the boiler out.
1906. A. B. Todd, Poet. Wks. etc., Remin., vii. 68. My duties were to be what is called a ‘washer-off’ to a tile-moulder named David Ramage.
4. a. A popular name of the Wagtail, Motacilla lugubris. Cf. WASH-DISH 1, DISH-WASHER 3, and WASHERWOMAN 2.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 165. La vanele e le pounzot (glossed a wype and wasthere [? read waschere]).
1556. Withals, Dict. (1562), 5/1. A wagtaile, wassher … motacilla.
[1575–: see DISH-WASHER 3.]
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 90. Motacilla … the washer, or water-wagtail.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds, I. 187, note. They are sometimes called Washers, from their peculiar motion.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 44. Pied Wagtail … Moll washer.
b. A name of the Raccoon. Cf. WASH-BEAR. Washing-bear (WASHING ppl. a. 3).
[1858. Baird, Cycl. Nat. Sci. (1860), 569/2. The racoon, Procyon lotor, is a native of America…. Its specific name, lotor (washer), is derived from its habit of plunging its dry food into water before eating it.]
1891. Century Dict.; and in other recent Dicts.
5. An apparatus for washing; a washing-machine used in various industries.
1808. I. C. Curwen, Econ. Feeding Stock, 33. The washer being removed by the crane, to the place where the dirty potatoes are laid.
1860. R. Hunt, Ure’s Dict. Arts (ed. 5), III. 977. The small coal resulting from the washer … is delivered into a common pit placed under the washers.
1875. Encycl. Brit., III. 816/2. (Bleaching) The continuous washer … patented in 1852, is deserving of notice as a simple and efficient washing-machine.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 389. The cement silver is washed in a washer invented by Professor Pearce.
b. A machine in which the rags used in paper-making are worked to wash and open their fibers.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 366. The paper-mill consists of a water-wheel,… connected with … wheels, so arranged as to cause the cylinder in the washer, and the one in the beating engine,… to make from 120 to 150 revolutions per minute.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 926. There is another [engine],… called the washer, in which the rags are first worked coarsely with a stream of water.
c. An apparatus for cleansing coal-gas.
1853. S. Hughes, Gas-works, 134. Of the washer and condenser for separating the tar and ammoniacal liquor.
1883. Chamb. Jrnl., 267. The resulting gas is led off to a washer, and thence to a gasholder.
d. A machine for washing domestic linen.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 116/2. Seven of Greenall’s Steam Washers, different sizes, for domestic use. Clothes are washed by steam.
1894. Eliz. L. Banks, Camp. Curiosity, 190. She carefully measured the amount of soda that was put into the washers.
1908. Daily Chron., 19 Feb., 9/6. Washer (40-shirt hand) by Whitaker.
e. An apparatus for washing photographic plates or prints.
1891. Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., IV. 97. The prints on being taken out of the washer are well sponged … before drying.
† 6. An instrument or tool used for sprinkling or cleansing. a. A smith’s tool: see quots. b. ? A sponge for cleansing the bore of a gun. Obs.
a. 1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., i. 10. With your Washer dipt in Water damp the outside of the Fire to keep the Heat in.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 321/1. Smiths Tools…. The Washer, is a Bundle of Rushes … with an Iron Stail to it; with this Water is sprinkled out of the Trough into the Fire to make it burn the hotter.
b. 1708. [see SCOURER2 5].
7. a. A cock or outlet valve of a water-supplying pipe. b. The outlet valve of a basin, cistern, etc., to which the waste-pipe is attached.
1596. Harington, Anat. Metam. Ajax, L iij b. To which pype you must haue a Cocke or a washer to yeeld water with some pretie strength, when you would let it in.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 199. If it be a Four-inch Pipe, you should give it a Washer and Opening of six Inches at the Bottom of the Reserver. Ibid., 211. To empty the Bason entirely…, which is done by means of a Washer, and a Waste-Pipe at the Bottom of it.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5493/3. Brass Cocks, Washers, &c. of all Sizes.
1859. Gwilt, Archit. (ed. 4), Add. to Gloss., Washer,… the perforated metal plate of a sink or drain, which can be removed for letting off the waste water.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v., Washer 3. b. A street-washer or pavement-plug, where a hose may be attached to water the street, pavement, or urban garden.
† 8. Some kind of cloth. Obs.
1613. J. May, Decl. Estate Clothing, v. 32. There haue some merchants caused counterfeit Deuonshire kersies to bee made in Yorkshire out of washers or halfethicks.
1627. Treasurer’s Almanacke (ed. 2), B 8 b. [List of Woollen cloths.] Washers of Lancashire.
9. Comb., as (sense 3 b) washer-girl, -maiden; (sense 5) washer-cloth; also WASHERMAN, WASHERWOMAN.
1876. Henley, Life & Death, xxx. Bk. Verses (1888), 92. The pretty washer-maiden, She washes on always!
1887. Manch. Exhib. Catal., 63. Cotton Manufacturers’ Roller, Clearer, Washer, and Sizing Cloth. Ibid. Washer Cloth for Mill Furnishing.
1907. Jean Webster, Jerry Junior, ii. 22. The washer-girls were dressed in the gayest of peasant clothes.
