English edit

Noun edit

washer-upper (plural washer-uppers)

  1. (humorous) One who does the washing up.
    • 1988, Yiannis Gabriel, Working Lives in Catering:
      [] the young man or woman who serves us in the fast food outlet, the washer-upper, the supervisor and the manager.
    • 2001, Katey Day, Speeches: What to Say at Weddings and When to Say It:
      As my new mother-in-law said, she is not losing a daughter but gaining a washer-upper.
    • 2005, Marilyn Strathern, Kinship, Law and the Unexpected:
      [] not just as a tool extends human effort but as innovations substitute for old travails (the dishwasher purportedly releasing the washer-upper []