Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An apparatus for defecation and urination, usually consisting of a bowl fitted with a hinged seat and connected to a waste pipe and a flushing apparatus.
  • noun A room or booth containing such an apparatus.
  • noun The act or process of dressing or grooming oneself.
  • noun Dress; attire; costume.
  • noun The cleansing of a body area as part of a surgical or medical procedure.
  • noun Archaic A dressing table.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A room designed as a dressing-room, especially one provided with facilities for bathing; in a restricted sense, a bath-room or water-closet.
  • noun A cloth, generally of linen.
  • noun Hence An article made of linen or other Cloth.
  • noun A cover for a dressing-table, or for the articles set upon it. Now called toilet-cover.
  • noun A bag or cloth case for holding clothing, etc.
  • noun Hence The articles, collectively, used in dressing, as a mirror, bottles, boxes, brushes, and combs, set upon the dressing-table; a toilet-service.
  • noun A dressing-table furnished with a mirror: more commonly called toilet-table.
  • noun The process of dressing; formerly, specifically, the dressing and powdering of the hair, during which women of fashion received callers.
  • noun The dress and make-up of a person; as, his toilet was not irreproachable; also, any particular costume: as, a toilet of white silk: in the last sense chiefly used by writers of “fashion articles.”
  • noun In surgery, the cleansing of the part after an operation, especially in the peritoneal cavity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A covering of linen, silk, or tapestry, spread over a table in a chamber or a dressing room.
  • noun A dressing table.
  • noun Act or mode of dressing, or that which is arranged in dressing; attire; dress.
  • noun a looking-glass for a toilet table or for a dressing room.
  • noun earthenware, glass, and other utensils for a dressing room.
  • noun a dressing table; a toilet. See def. 2 above.
  • noun to dress one's self; especially, to dress one's self carefully.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Now specifically, a room or enclosed cubicle containing a lavatory, e.g., a bathroom or water closet (w.c.).
  • noun Other similar devices, such as squat toilets, as in Japan or the Middle East.
  • noun obsolete A covering of linen, silk, or tapestry, spread over a table in a chamber or dressing room.
  • noun obsolete A dressing table.
  • verb dated To dress and groom oneself
  • verb To use the toilet, or assist (a child etc) in using the toilet

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun misfortune resulting in lost effort or money
  • noun a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
  • noun the act of dressing and preparing yourself
  • noun a plumbing fixture for defecation and urination

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French toilette, piece of cloth for wrapping up a bundle of clothes, items used for personal grooming, toilette, dressing table, toilet (by euphemism), from Old French tellette, piece of cloth for wrapping up a bundle of clothes, diminutive of teile, cloth; see toil.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French toilette ("small cloth,") diminutive of toile ("cloth"); a cloth used to protect garments when making up the hair or shaving.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word toilet.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • There are many toilet articles here

    April 21, 2009