dry cleaner
24
1.6
- noun
- /draɪ ˈkliːnər/
:
tintorería
- I took my suit to the dry cleaner to remove the stain.
- a local dry cleaner
- worked at a dry cleaner
- clothes to a dry cleaner
My grandfather had a a dry cleaner and then a car wash.
- My grandfather had a a dry cleaner and then a car wash.
Examples
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Two: pick up Art's suits at the dry cleaner's.
Fiction book (2002) -
And I need to find out where the nearest dry cleaner is.
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I have great insurance and an excellent dry cleaner.
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I went to the dry cleaner's to collect my clean clothes, but they had been sold.
Fiction book (1999) -
The other day, I was hurrying around my neighborhood on my way to the dry cleaner.
Blog text (3) -
Mrs. Shaw had once worked at a dry cleaner, and Gopal found this fascinating.
Fiction book (1997) -
Now Nora Johnson worked in a dry cleaner and lived in a shabby housing complex.
Fiction book (1999) -
The dry cleaner said they've definitely seen that combo of fluid before.
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"I had a case in which a lady had sued a dry cleaner for damaging her clothing," he recalls.
Academic text (2000) -
Organization of the union was led by two rather unlikely candidates: H. L. Mitchell, who owned a dry cleaner in town, and Clay East, who owned a service station located in the same building as Mitchell.
Academic text (2009)
Synonyms
124
1.6
A person or shop that cleans clothes professionally, often using dry cleaning
19
1.5
A shop that cleans clothes without using water
A shop that cleans clothes for people, often by dry cleaning
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally transparent: 'dry' (not wet / without water) modifies 'cleaner' (a person or business that cleans), yielding a cleaner that uses a non-water method. An average B1 learner who knows both words and adjective+noun compounding will readily infer it refers to the service/person that cleans clothes using a dry (non-water) process.
Etymology
Dry cleaner comes from the words dry and cleaner, where dry means 'not using water' and cleaner means a person who cleans. People began using special chemicals to clean suits and coats instead of washing them with water, so a dry cleaner is a shop or person who cleans clothes 'without water'.