lavatory

American  

[lav-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈlæv əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

noun

lavatories plural

1. a room fitted with equipment for washing the hands and face and usually with flush toilet facilities.

2. a flush toilet; water closet.

3. a bowl or basin with running water for washing or bathing purposes; washbowl.

4. any place where washing is done.

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lavatory British  

/ -trɪ, ˈlævətərɪ /

noun

1. Also called: toilet.   water closet.   WC. 

   1. a sanitary installation for receiving and disposing of urine and faeces, consisting of a bowl fitted with a water-flushing device and connected to a drain

   2. a room containing such an installation

2. the washing place in a convent or monastic establishment

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• lavatories
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lavatory

1325–75; Middle English lavatorie < Late Latin lavātōrium washing-place, equivalent to Latin lavā ( re ) to wash + -tōrium -tory ²

Explanation

A lavatory is a bathroom or a restroom. You should go to a restaurant's lavatory to wash your hands before dinner. Lavatory is a slightly formal way to say "bathroom." Most people would never refer to this room in their own homes as a lavatory, although they might use this word for public restrooms in schools, hospitals, or other buildings. In the U.K., a lavatory is just a toilet, and its earliest meaning was "washbasin," from the Latin root lavatorium, or "place for washing."

Example Sentences

Lavatory sanitation, amid the coronavirus pandemic, has been another trouble spot.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 28, 2020

Lavatory faucets would have a maximum water use level of 1.5 gallons per minute under the proposed standards, down from the current limit of 2.2 gallons per minute.

From Scientific American • Apr. 22, 2014

For Clogged Lavatory Basins—Mix a handful of soda with a handful of common salt and force it down the pipe; then rinse the pipe thoroughly with boiling water.

From Fowler's Household Helps Over 300 Useful and Valuable Helps About the Home, Carefully Compiled and Arranged in Convenient Form for Frequent Use by Fowler, Arthur L.

They had stopped at the Lavatory outside the walls, washed themselves and had purchased the white garments of the purified.

From The City of Delight A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem by Leyendecker, Frank X.

The North Alley.—The windows in this alley as far as the Monks' Lavatory have been filled recently, 1896-97, at the expense of Baron de Ferrières of Cheltenham.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.] A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by Massé, H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph)

Related Words

• latrine
• restroom
• toilet