cleaning lady
27
1.0
- noun
- /ˈkliːnɪŋ ˈleɪdi/
- Informal
:
limpiadora
- My cleaning lady comes every Tuesday to tidy up the house.
- hire a cleaning lady
- cleaning lady working
- cleaning lady mopped
So I would go to job sites, they would think I was the cleaning lady.
- So I would go to job sites, they would think I was the cleaning lady.
- I'm like so bitch, nothing was worse when the the cleaning ladies came in and Mykonos right after we had just walked in.
- And he talked with me and there was a cleaning lady who threw a book about Jesus into the hospital bed and said this is all you need.
- I apologize to my cleaning lady, who I left a giant shit streak in the toilet on the way out, but I know she's going to have to clean.
Examples
-
I could hear the cleaning lady vacuuming the room next to ours.
Fiction book (1999) -
Since when did you have a cleaning lady on Sixth Street and Avenue A?
Fiction book (1991) -
I guess their cleaning lady took a week off.
-
- Then who were you talking about? - Uh, my... cleaning lady.
-
We almost got caught by the cleaning lady.
-
The young cleaning lady at the window tried to wave off visitors.
Academic text (2006) -
Twice a week, there was a cleaning lady, and every day there was a boy delivering things.
Fiction book (1991) -
Your mother said you don't have a cleaning lady.
-
My cleaning lady's sick, so I got to clean up myself.
-
Rita Coronado worked as a cleaning lady at the River Cross Plaza.
Synonyms
264
1.0
A woman paid to clean and cook in another person's home
189
1.5
A person who cleans and looks after a building like a school or office
51
1.0
A person who cleans houses or offices as their job
8
2.4
A woman paid to clean and do other jobs in a home
6
1.3
A woman who is paid to clean houses or offices regularly
3
7.1
A woman who works in a home doing cleaning and cooking
1
1.9
A person who cleans homes for money
1
2.3
A person who works in a home doing cleaning, cooking and other daily tasks
1
9.9
A woman who cleans houses or offices for pay
1
2.6
A person paid to clean and cook in a home
1
9.7
A woman who cleans houses or offices, often in the past
1
9.9
An old word for a woman who cleans houses for a living
A person who cleans, cooks, or does other work in a home
A woman who cleans and looks after a building
How Professional
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'cleaning' (the act of cleaning) modifies 'lady' (a woman), so a B1 learner who knows both words will infer it refers to a woman whose job is cleaning. This follows a common modifier+noun pattern found across languages and is therefore immediately understandable.
Etymology
Cleaning lady gives a clear picture: a lady who does the cleaning in someone else's home or office. Because people long ago used 'lady' as a polite word for a woman who worked in a house, the phrase came to mean 'a woman whose job is to clean'.