Explanation: A stick or a baton used by washerwomen (les lavandières) to strike the clothes to knock the dirt out of them.
http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/10...
Battledore (3 syl.) means, properly, a baton for washing linen by striking on it to knock out the dirt. The plan is still common in France. The word is the French battoir, a beater used by washerwomen; Portuguese, Batidor, Spanish, batidero, a wash-board.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 18 mins (2004-06-02 10:35:26 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
My 1987 copy of the OED defines \"battledore\" as:
A beetle used in washng, also for mangling linen clothes; hence applied to other similarly shaped instruments.
Explanation: A stick or a baton used by washerwomen (les lavandières) to strike the clothes to knock the dirt out of them.
http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/10...
Battledore (3 syl.) means, properly, a baton for washing linen by striking on it to knock out the dirt. The plan is still common in France. The word is the French battoir, a beater used by washerwomen; Portuguese, Batidor, Spanish, batidero, a wash-board.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 18 mins (2004-06-02 10:35:26 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
My 1987 copy of the OED defines \"battledore\" as:
A beetle used in washng, also for mangling linen clothes; hence applied to other similarly shaped instruments.
hth, Aisha
Aisha Maniar United Kingdom Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 12
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +5