Lingerie exclusively for more lightweight items of female undergarments. The French word in its original form derives from the old French word "linge", meaning 'linen'. So "faire le linge", comes to mean "do the laundry". In French the word "lingerie" applies to all undergarments for either sex. In English it means women's underwear or nightclothes. Lingerie as a word was first used to refer to underwear and bras in 1922. Informal usage suggests visually appealing or even erotic clothing. Although most lingerie is designed to be worn by women, some manufactures now design lingerie for men. The concept of lingerie is
Clothing until it falls apart. Some materials present problems. Cleaning leather is difficult, and bark cloth (tapa) cannot be washed without dissolving it. Owners may patch tears and rips, and brush off surface dirt, but materials like these inevitably age. However, most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundered and mended (patching, darning, but compare felt). Humans have developed many specialized methods for laundering, ranging from early methods of pounding clothes against rocks in running streams, to the latest in electronic washing machines and dry cleaning (dissolving dirt in solvents other than water). Hot water washing (boiling), chemical