washer

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun One who washes.
• noun An appliance, especially a washing machine, used for washing.
• noun A flat disk, as of metal, plastic, rubber, or leather, placed beneath a nut or bolt to make the connection more secure or distribute pressure or placed between parts to space the parts properly or prevent leakage in a joint.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To fit with washers.
• noun One who or that which washes: as, a washer of clothes; a dish-washer; a wool-washer.
• noun An annular piece of leather, rubber, metal, or other material placed at a joint in a water-pipe or faucet to make the joint tight and prevent leakage, or over a bolt, or a similar piece upon which a nut may be screwed.
• noun A similar article forming an ornament, as at the socket or pin that holds any adjustable utensil: as, the mother-of-pearl washers of a fan. Compare rosette.
• noun In paper manufacturing, a straining-and-washing machine used in the process of cleaning rags, to bring them to a pulpy condition; a beating-engine.
• noun In plumbing, the outlet of a cistern. It includes the pipe, the joint or union, and the plug, as for a basin.
• noun A washing-machine: as, a clothes-washer, window-washer, gold-washer.
• noun In coal-mining (short for coal-washer), any machine for washing coal.
• noun The wagtail, a bird. Also dish-washer, peggy dish-washer, moll-washer, molly or polly wash dish, washtail, nanny washtail, etc. See cut under wagtail.
• noun The wash-bear.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One who, or that which, washes.
• noun A ring of metal, leather, or other material, or a perforated plate, used for various purposes, as around a bolt or screw to form a seat for the head or nut, or around a wagon axle to prevent endwise motion of the hub of the wheel and relieve friction, or in a joint to form a packing, etc.
• noun (Plumbing) A fitting, usually having a plug, applied to a cistern, tub, sink, or the like, and forming the outlet opening.
• noun (Zoöl.) The common raccoon.
• noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. Same as Washerwoman, 2.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Something that washes; especially an appliance such as a washing machine or dishwasher.
• noun A person who washes for a living; (if female:) a washerwoman.
• noun A flat disk, placed beneath a nut or at some joint, to distribute pressure, alleviate friction or prevent leakage.
• noun A face cloth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun seal consisting of a flat disk placed to prevent leakage
• noun a home appliance for washing clothes and linens automatically
• noun someone who washes things for a living