CHARWOMAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does charwoman mean? 

• CHARWOMAN (noun)
  The noun CHARWOMAN has 1 sense:

1. a human female employed to do housework

  Familiarity information: CHARWOMAN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHARWOMAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A human female employed to do housework

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

char; charwoman; cleaning lady; cleaning woman; woman

Context example:

I have a woman who comes in four hours a day while I write

Hypernyms ("charwoman" is a kind of...):

cleaner (someone whose occupation is cleaning)

 Context examples 

The charwoman was going on; but here Leah turned and perceived me, and she instantly gave her companion a nudge.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The charwomen are in the habit of taking off their boots at the commissionnaire’s office, and putting on list slippers.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"She is a good hand, I daresay," said the charwoman.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Leah had been saying something I had not caught, and the charwoman remarked—She gets good wages, I guess?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I once, indeed, overheard part of a dialogue between Leah and one of the charwomen, of which Grace formed the subject.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This was when I chanced to see the third-storey staircase door (which of late had always been kept locked) open slowly, and give passage to the form of Grace Poole, in prim cap, white apron, and handkerchief; when I watched her glide along the gallery, her quiet tread muffled in a list slipper; when I saw her look into the bustling, topsy-turvy bedrooms,—just say a word, perhaps, to the charwoman about the proper way to polish a grate, or clean a marble mantelpiece, or take stains from papered walls, and then pass on.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)