# laundry

Pronunciation: say "LAWN-dree" /ˈlɔːn.dɹi/

## Noun

1. Clothes, linens, or other items that need to be washed, are being washed, or have just been washed.
   - Simple: Clothes and other things that need washing, are being washed, or were just washed.
   - _She hung the laundry on the line to dry in the afternoon sun._
   - _Piles of clean laundry covered the couch, waiting to be folded._
2. The washing of clothes and linens, often as a regular household chore.
   - Simple: The job of washing clothes, sheets, and towels.
   - _Whose turn is it to do the laundry this week?_
   - _With three kids in soccer, laundry takes up most of her Sunday._
3. A place or room where laundering is done, whether of clothes or, by extension, of other things.
   - Simple: A room or building where clothes and other things are washed.
   - _The hotel's laundry is in the basement, next to the boiler room._
   - _She dropped off two bags of shirts at the laundry on Main Street._
4. A business that exists mainly to hide where illegally obtained money came from.
   - Simple: A business that is really used to hide where money from crime came from.
   - _Prosecutors say the car wash was a laundry for the cartel's drug money._
   - _Investigators traced the cash through a chain of laundries disguised as restaurants._
5. A penalty flag in American football. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A flag in football that shows a player broke a rule.
   - _There's laundry on the field, and it looks like holding on the offense._
   - _The officials threw so much laundry in the first half that the game dragged on for hours._

## Origin

From Middle English lavendrie, which came from Old French lavanderie and, before that, from Latin lavandaria; compare launder.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/laundry (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).