lavabo

[luh-vey-boh, -vah-]

See more synonyms for lavabo on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural la·va·boes.

Ecclesiastical.
1. the ritual washing of the celebrant's hands after the offertory in the Mass, accompanied in the Roman rite by the recitation of Psalm 26:6–12.
2. the passage recited.
3. the small towel or the basin used.
(in many medieval monasteries) a large stone basin equipped with a number of small orifices through which water flowed, used for the performance of ablutions.
a washbowl with a spigot-equipped water tank above, both mounted on a wall: now often used for decoration or as a planter.

Origin of lavabo

First recorded in 1855–60, lavabo is from the Latin word lavābō: I shall wash

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for lavabo

laundry, bath, soaking, bathing, ablution, maundy, lavage, lavation, fomentation, lavabo

Examples from the Web for lavabo

Historical Examples of lavabo

Nothing represented the poverty of the Legion so much as this "lavabo."
In the Foreign Legion
Erwin Rosen
This building was known, in monastic terminology, as the “Lavabo.”
Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth
Anonymous
The only portions of the monastery which remain in a fair state of preservation are the Chapter House and the Lavabo.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh
H. J. Lawlor
The Lavabo, likewise borrowed from the heathen lustrations, reappears now.
La Sorcire: The Witch of the Middle Ages
Jules Michelet
The marble Lavabo in the sacristy of San Lorenzo is also a doubtful piece of sculpture.
Donatello
David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford

British Dictionary definitions for lavabo

lavabo

noun plural -boes or -bos mainly RC Church

1. the ritual washing of the celebrant's hands after the offertory at Mass
2. (as modifier)lavabo basin; lavabo towel
another name for washbasin
a trough for washing in a convent or monastery

Word Origin for lavabo

C19: from Latin: I shall wash, the opening of Psalm 26:6

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