laundress

noun

1. Synonym of washerwoman.

   “I tell thee ſhameleſſe girle, Thou ſhalt be Landreſſe to my waiting maide:”

verb

1. (historical, obsolete)To act as a laundress.

   “‘Sir,’ said Mrs. Crupp, in a tone approaching to severity, ‘I’ve laundressed other young gentlemen besides yourself. […]’”

   “And oh, my dears, real washing is very different work from the dolls’ laundressing—standing round a wash-hand basin placed on a nursery chair, and wasting ever so much beautiful honey-soap in nice clean hot water […]”

   “2007, Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes (Someone Knows My Name), New York: Norton, Book Three, p. 260, Mama got herself free before she had me, and she was laundressing for the British since my early days.”