the.com/laundry basket

means A container, usually woven or molded with handles, for carrying and holding dirty or clean clothes before, during, or after washing.

from A plain compound of two old workhorse words. "Laundry" comes through Old French "lavanderie," from Latin "lavare," to wash — the same root that gives us "lavatory" and "lavish" (originally an outpouring, as of water). "Basket" is older and murkier; it surfaces in Middle English, possibly borrowed from a Celtic source, though its earliest origin is genuinely uncertain. Joined together, they name the humble vessel that has caught our castoff clothing for as long as people have both worn and washed them.