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bidet

[bee-dey, bih-det]
noun
  1. a low, basinlike bathroom fixture, usually with spigots, used for bathing the genital and perineal areas.
  2. a small saddle horse.
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Origin of bidet

1620–30; < Middle French: pony; akin to Old French bider to trot
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for bidet

Historical Examples

  • So La Fleur got off him, and giving him a good sound lash, the bidet took me at my word, and away he scampered back to Montriul.

    Rowlandson the Caricaturist. Second Volume

    Joseph Grego

  • Bidet, writing in 1759, foreshadows the misery which marked the last thirty years of the ancien rgime.

    A History of Champagne

    Henry Vizetelly

British Dictionary definitions for bidet

bidet

noun
  1. a small low basin for washing the genitals and anal area
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Word Origin

C17: from French: small horse, probably from Old French bider to trot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bidet

n.

1620s, "small horse," from French bidet (16c.), of unknown etymology. Originally in French "a small horse, a pony," thus "a vessel on a low narrow stand, which can be bestridden for bathing purposes," a sense attested in English from 1766.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper