† ˈwashester Obs.
[f. wash v. + -ster.]
A female washer (of linen), a washerwoman: in OE. also applied to a man.
| c 900 Wærferth Gregory's Dial. iii. viii. 191 Iobinus, se wæs min wæscestre [L. fullo]. Ibid. iv. xii. 276 Se mæssepreost..wæs lufiᵹende his wæscestran [L. presbyteram] swa swa his aᵹne swuster. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 57 Quod melius patefacit exemplar lotricum, and þis us doð to understonden þe forbisne of þe wasshestren. |