lavatory
pronunciation
How to pronounce lavatory in British English:
UK [ˈlævətri]
How to pronounce lavatory in American English:
US [ˈlævətɔːri]
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- Noun:
- a room equipped with toilet facilities
- a bathroom or lavatory sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you wash your hands and face
- a toilet that is cleaned of waste by the flow of water through it
Word Origin
- lavatory
- lavatory: [14] The notion of ‘washing’ was represented in prehistoric Indo-European by *lou-, which produced Greek loúein ‘wash’, English lather, and Latin lavāre ‘wash’. This last has been a fruitful source of English words, not all of them as obvious as lavatory, which originally meant simply ‘place or vessel for washing’ (its use for a ‘room containing a water closet’ appears to date from the 19th century).Among its relatives are deluge [14], latrine [17] (from a contraction of Latin lavātrīna), laundry, lava [18] (from Italian lava, which originally denoted a ‘stream caused by sudden rain’), lavish [15] (from the metaphorical notion of an ‘outpouring’), and lotion [14]. And from Latin luere, the form taken on by lavāre after prefixes, we get ablution [14] and dilute [16]. Lavender [15] looks as though it should belong to the same family, but no actual connection has ever been demonstrated.=> ablution, deluge, dilute, lather, latrine, laundry, lava, lavish, lotion
- lavatory (n.)
- late 14c., "washbasin," from Latin lavatorium "place for washing," noun use of neuter of adjective lavatorius "pertaining to washing," from lavatus, past participle of lavare "to wash" (see lave). Sense of "washroom" is first attested 1650s; as a euphemism for "toilet, W.C.," it is attested by 1864.
Example
- 1. The first is : does the coffee chain really smell like a lavatory ?
- 2. The liason is said to have lasted about 30 seconds in a backstage lavatory .
- 3. Women , legs crossed in discomfort or desperation , wait in line for the lavatory while men saunter in and out of their loos .
- 4. He grew up in a house made of railway sleepers , without an indoor lavatory .
- 5. In response to the art world 's desire to see his legendary lavatory , duchamp authorised curators to purchase urinals in his name in 1950 , 1953 and 1963 .