Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A low cabinet or chest of drawers, often elaborately decorated and usually standing on legs or short feet.
- n. A movable stand or cupboard containing a washbowl.
- n. A chair enclosing a chamber pot.
- n. A toilet.
- n. A woman's ornate headdress, fashionable around 1700.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Accommodating; obliging.
- n. A large and high head-dress, mounted on a frame of wire, covered with silk, lace, bows of ribbon, etc., worn about the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth.
- n. Any piece of furniture containing drawers and shelves for holding clothes, handy articles, tools, etc.
- n. A small piece of furniture containing a chamber-pot below and a drawer and shelf above, and conveniently arranged in a bedroom for necessary purposes.
- n. A night-stool.
- n. A procuress; a bawd.
Wiktionary
- n. A low chest of drawers on short legs.
- n. A stand for a washbowl and jug.
- n. A chair containing a chamber pot.
- n. euphemistic A toilet.
- n. historical A kind of woman's headdress, raising the hair and fore part of the cap to a great height.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A kind of headdress formerly worn by ladies, raising the hair and fore part of the cap to a great height.
- n. A piece of furniture, so named according to temporary fashion.
- n. A chest of drawers or a bureau.
- n. A night stand with a compartment for holding a chamber vessel.
- n. A kind of close stool.
- n. A movable sink or stand for a wash bowl, with closet.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a tall elegant chest of drawers
- n. a plumbing fixture for defecation and urination
Etymologies
- From French commode. (Wiktionary)
- French, from commode, convenient, from Latin commodus; see commodious. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term commode is still used as another name for the bathroom, or toilet.”
“I presume you mean that flushing toilet paper down the commode is normally an acceptable practice.”
“I presume you mean that flushing toilet paper down the commode is normally an acceptable practice.”
“The "towers like comets" were doubtless commodes, which were in high fashion in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century until about the year 1711, though I have never found that the word commode was used in America.”
“Apart from trying to mimic the shapes and forms used in the 18th century, the commode is also practical with some sort of criss-crossed shelves and cubbyholes where you’ll get to “stick” your favorite wine bottles.”
“That thing ova there is called a commode by fancy folks, but I’m not fancy—it’s a toilet.”
“The trap is actually built into the commode, which is why there is standing water in it.”
“Media speculation centered on a $35,000 commode -- until it was pointed out that the commode was a cupboard.”
“As I assist her back into bed this morning she indicates that emptying the commode is the way I can help.”
“At rest stops I release them from the carrier, giving them freedom to hop about the car interior, have a drink of water, and use their commode, which is placed on the floor of the backseat.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘commode’.
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hats and headgear
Everything hats,things with hoods,hoods,scarves,crowns,useful
adjectival forms,hat expressions,
alternate spellingsbabushka, balaclava, bamoral, baseball cap, beanie, bearskin, beaver hat, beret, billycock, biretta, boater, bobble hat and 422 more...
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Hats Off!
trilby, porkpie, panama, fedora, pillbox, stovepipe, turban, boater, ball cap, pastorella, beret, bowler and 219 more...
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anotherfailedattempt's Words
kakistocracy, conflagration, pollyanna, equanimity, punctillious, obstreperous, ribald, belligerent, truculent, verbose, lachrymose, onanism and 278 more...
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Scriptie: The Shakespearean Language ...
It isn't all about fucking cocksuckers. There aren't too many shows on TV that use Wordie words. (So of course it was cancelled.)
Best viewed in cloud format.sweggen, hooplehead, cocksucker, dope, yankton, camp, pussy, bonanza, laudanum, chinaman, hoecake, free gratis and 210 more...
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Summer 12
accoast, agog, alarums, alembic, anapest, animadvert, anoraked, apostasy, aquarelle, argentated, aubergine, auscultation and 197 more...
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furniture
commode, settee, swivel chair, sideboard, shabby chic, lounge, filing cabinet, display cabinet, chest of drawers, dresser, bureau, wardrobe and 6 more...
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memories
words that take me back
jitney, dulcinea, ebenezer, hammock, cribbage, manse, scenic route, catsup, horehound, commode, jujyfruits, scrapple and 4 more...
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household
balustrade, porch swing, terrace, windowseat, foyer, breakfast nook, cellar, bay window, venetian blinds, canopy, hammock, hope chest and 69 more...
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When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go
Names for the place where you do your business.
privy, toilet, latrine, baño, bathroom, restroom, outhouse, john, throne room, ladies' room, lavatory, potty and 26 more...
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Words That Make Me Giggle
because i might as well be a 10-year-old boy
wiener, pianist, diarrhea, commode, teetee, anus, penile, bauble, unitard, cockpit, dipstick, buttocks
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samjan06's Words
gravalicious, fisticuffs, superfluous, vex, cantankerous, prescience, omniscience, antithesis, microcosm, posthumous, paraphernalia, propaganda and 39 more...
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appointments
armoire, secretaire, commode, bureau, dresser, curtains, carpet, rug, table, chair, mirror, bench and 75 more...
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Mimi and Bobo
words that remind me of my grandparents
skunks, caboose, patio, jamoke, baroness, chip, marbles, commode, dogwood, hydrangea, linoleum, driftwood and 30 more...
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Sounds sorta dirty.
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glauren5's list
Words I dig
Tweets
Looking for tweets for commode.

reesetee It used to be a hat! From dictionary.com: "elaborate headdress consisting chiefly of a high framework decorated with lace, ribbons, etc., worn perched on top of the hair by women in the late 17th and early 18th centuries."
The funny part is that you're directed to that page by the entry for fontange : "commode (def. 4)." But the hat is described in def. 5. Definition 4 reads: "a portable toilet, esp. one on a chairlike frame with wheels, as for an invalid."
I don't think they wore those commodes perched on top of the hair in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Apr 17, 2008