washer

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒʃə(ɹ)/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑʃɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɒʃə(ɹ)

From Middle English wasshere, wassher, equivalent to wash +‎ -er. Cognate with Dutch wasser, German Wäscher.

washer (plural washers)

1. Something that washes; especially an appliance such as a washing machine or dishwasher.
   • 2021 January 13, “GA opens new carriage washers”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 15:

     A £1.2 million carriage washer has opened at Norwich Crown Point, enabling Greater Anglia to clean its 58 Stadler trains. It is one of two new washers (the other is for '720s' at Southend), […]

2. A person who washes (especially clothes) for a living; a washerman or washerwoman.

   Hypernym: cleaner

3. A person who washes his or her hands compulsively, as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
4. A face cloth.

Unclear. First recorded in the 14th century.

washer (plural washers)

2. A flat piece of material, often of metal and often an annulus, placed beneath a nut or at some joint, to distribute pressure, alleviate friction, provide directionally differentiated friction (e.g. making the nut turn counter-clockwise only with difficulty), or prevent leakage.
   • 1955 February, “The Why and the Wherefore: The Belpaire Firebox”, in Railway Magazine, page 146:

     To ensure that the stays are steamtight, a nut is then screwed tight up to copper washers inside and out.

washer (third-person singular simple present washers, present participle washering, simple past and past participle washered)

1. (transitive) To fit (a mechanical device) with a washer.

• hawser, rewash, whares