bathwater

[ bath-waw-ter, -wot-er, bahth- ]

noun

1. water for bathing: bath: bathe:

   He ran the bathwater while he shaved.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathwater¹

First recorded in 1910–15; bath ¹ + water

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. throw out the baby with the bathwater, to eliminate or reject the good along with the bad.

Example Sentences

Now, in back-to-back rulings, it has rearmed New Yorkers and thrown stare decisis out with the bathwater.

From Washington Post

One tenant described having to heat her bathwater on the stove because she couldn’t get anything but cold water from the tap.

From ProPublica

Another renter described having to heat her bathwater on the stove after she woke several times to find only cold water flowing from her tap.

From ProPublica

Simply jumping off the boat provided no relief—the surface was like bathwater.

From Outside Online

“We didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, regardless of how dirty it might be,” says Caldwell Pinckney, a Berkeley County councilman.

From Time

The first, suggested by the states and business interests challenging the law, takes the baby-with-the-bathwater approach.

From The Daily Beast

Will there be some babies thrown out with the bathwater, if you will?

From The Daily Beast

It's also amazing that this dressed-up baby is getting thrown out with its bergamot-scented bathwater.

From The Daily Beast

You're never going to be sick in this bit of bathwater, Miss Twinkler?

From Project Gutenberg