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In theory, any mechanical device that is used to wash another object could be called a "washing machine". However, the term (at least in the US) is almost exclusively used for machines that wash clothes.

Machines that was dishes and silverware are "dish washers". A Machine that washes automobiles is a "car wash". But a machine that washes clothes is just a "washing machine".

How did that generic term come to be so completely identified with a specific type of washing machine?

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    When I was a kid, "clothes washer" was a fairly common term.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Sep 30, 2021 at 12:32
  • But a machine that washes clothes is just a "washing machine". This is a false premise. There have been several words for washing machine - "a washer" springs to mind. The commonest use of a noun usually becomes the default and loses its attributive adjective first: in terms of riding, saddle = horse saddle. If you want an elephant saddle or an ostrich saddle, you have to specify from the default.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Sep 30, 2021 at 18:34

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I suppose because it was the first one.

We, in the UK, had washing machines (for clothes) long before dishwashers and car-washers. So that by the time those machines came along, the term 'washing machine' had already been claimed.

It is also the case (at least in Britain) that washing clothes has always been known as 'washing'. A question like: 'When do you do your washing?' almost certainly refers to washing clothes, not to washing dishes etc (that's called 'washing-up') nor the washing of oneself, or the baby (that's bathing, or showering).

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  • This sounds reasonable, though I'll note that in US usage, washing clothes is not usually called washing but more typically doing laundry or just laundry. If some asked me if I had done my washing I'm not sure what I would assume they meant, but probably bathing/showering barring any context...
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 15:53
  • 'Laundry' is obviously used in Britain too, but mostly it is associated with commercial laundries, or launderettes. People are not as inclined to refer to their domestic washing as 'laundry'. At least that's my impression. There are many terms, long since unfashionable in our 'correct' age, associated with 'washing', such as 'wash-day', 'washer-woman' etc. But they all point to a tradition of 'washing' meaning the washing of clothes and bed-linen.
    – WS2
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 17:18
  • Your first-paragraph supposition might or might not be correct; IMO, giving opinions rather than facts, when facts can be had, isn't worthy of upvotes.
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 17:37
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    @jwpat7 But a 'washer' is what goes between a nut and a screw.
    – WS2
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 17:53
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    @jwpat7 I'm not an ngrams expert by any means but wouldn't ngrams pick up "dish washer" as an example of "washer" as well?
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 19:21

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