A big open round container, usually made of wood, zinc or galvanised metal, that people filled with water to wash clothes in before washing machines. You knelt or stood over it, rubbed the clothes against a washboard, wrung them out by hand or through a mangle, and then poured the grey water away. Two washtubs was normal — one for washing, one for rinsing. Like washstand, it is mostly a historical word now: you meet it in stories about the past, in pictures of a hard Monday morning, and in the phrase describing that whole way of life. It does survive in a few live uses — farms and workshops still call a big general-purpose tub a washtub, people fill one with ice for drinks at a party, and an old one turned upside down with a string and a broomstick becomes a washtub bass in American folk music. Countable: a washtub, two washtubs. Also written wash tub or wash-tub in older books.

洗衣盆、大水桶（舊時洗衣服用的大盆）；台灣人想像的是那種大塑膠盆或木盆。