taking in washing

[davey b]

What does the old lancashire saying "Taking in washing" mean?

[lajohn]

Taking other peoples dirty clothes to wash or clean them.
Doing other peoples dirty laundry.

[jno]

As a means of making money, of course. Mark Twain wrote of poor people 'making a precarious living by taking in each other's washing'... work that one out...

[baileyman]

Also refers to clothing which has become stuck in the crack!!

[jonesytwotwo]

It meant that they were hard up. Broke. Skint. It was a derogatory desciption of people down on their luck