Meaning

noun the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)

noun garments or white goods that can be cleaned by laundering

verb clean with some chemical process

originInherited from Middle English waschyng /wasschinge /wasschynge /wassende /wesschinge, from Old English *wæsċende /*wasċende, from Proto-West Germanic *waskandī, from Proto-Germanic *waskandz (“washing”), present participle of *waskaną (“to wash”). By surface analysis, wash + -ing. Cognate with Dutch wassend, German waschend, Swedish vaskande.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0