ˈdish-washer
1. One who washes plates and dishes; a scullion or scullery-maid.
| a 1529 Skelton Poems agst. Garnesche 26 Ye war a kechyn page A dyshe washer. 1587 Harrison England iii. xi. (1878) ii. 73 Everie dishwasher refused to looke in other than silver glasses for the attiring of his head. 1872 Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 750 Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon!—to me Thou smellest all of kitchen as before. |
2. An apparatus for washing dishes. orig. U.S.
| 1867 Rep. Comm. Patents 1865 (U.S. Pat. Off.) I. 538 [The] dish-washer..consists of two disks placed one above another [etc.]. 1889 Kansas Times & Star 9 July, The patent new dish washer washes a bushel of dishes in a few minutes. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Apr. 2/6 (Advt.), Lessen the labors of your wife. Electric washing machines, electric dish washers, [etc.]. 1956 ‘N. Shute’ Beyond Black Stump 21 A new dishwasher stood where the old one had stood. 1958 Woman's Own 5 Mar. 11/4 Laundry goes straight into the washing machine and no one will dread the washing up with the electric dish washer. 1971 Which? Mar. 69/1 Refrigerators have a simpler mechanism than automatics or dishwashers. |
3. A popular name of the pied or water wagtail (Motacilla alba); also of the Grinder or Restless Flycatcher of Australia (Seisura inquieta).
| 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 137 The Wagtayles or dish⁓washer as we terme them. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Dish washer, a water-wag-tail, a bird. 1832 Slaney Outl. smaller Brit. Birds 65 (Pied Wagtail) Often called by the common people the dish-washer, or washerwoman. 1884 J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 265, I was surprised to meet my little friend the water wagtail, the dish-washer, where there was not a drop of water to wag his tail at. |