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lavabo

[luh-vey-boh, -vah-]
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noun, plural la·va·boes.
  1. 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.
  2. (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.
  3. a washbowl with a spigot-equipped water tank above, both mounted on a wall: now often used for decoration or as a planter.
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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

laundrybathsoakingbathingablutionmaundylavagelavationfomentationlavabo

Examples from the Web for lavabo

Historical Examples

  • 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.”

  • The only portions of the monastery which remain in a fair state of preservation are the Chapter House and the Lavabo.

  • The Lavabo, likewise borrowed from the heathen lustrations, reappears now.

  • 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
  2. another name for washbasin
  3. a trough for washing in a convent or monastery
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Word Origin

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