toilet

[ toi-lit ]

noun

1. a bathroom fixture consisting of a bowl, usually with a detachable, hinged seat and lid, and a device for flushing with water, used for defecation and urination.
2. a lavatory.
3. a bathroom.
4. toilet bowl.
5. a dressing room, especially one containing a bath.
6. the act or process of dressing or grooming oneself, including bathing and arranging the hair:

   to make one's toilet; busy at her toilet.

7. toilet set.
8. the dress or costume of a person; any particular costume:

   toilet of white silk.

9. Surgery. the cleansing of a part after childbirth or a wound after an operation.
10. Archaic. dressing table.

toilet

/ ˈtɔɪlɪt /

noun

1. another word for lavatory
2. old-fashioned.
   the act of dressing and preparing oneself

   to make one's toilet

3. old-fashioned.
   a dressing table or the articles used when making one's toilet
4. rare.
   costume
5. the cleansing of a wound, etc, after an operation or childbirth

Word History and Origins

Origin of toilet¹

1530–40; < French toilette small cloth, doily, dressing table, equivalent to toile toil ² + -ette -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of toilet¹

C16: from French toilette dress, from toile

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. go down / in the toilet, to become worthless or profitless; be doomed:

   The team's entire season went down the toilet.

Example Sentences

The other half of America will feel the hurt later, when tariffed toilet paper costs $10 a roll and lettuce is sold by the leaf because there are only 10 documented workers left in the country to pick the stuff.

From Los Angeles Times

One of these events was the murder of a young woman in a public toilet in Seoul’s wealthy Gangnam district in 2016.

From Los Angeles Times

They were laden with sacks of flour, rice and toilet paper, among other things.

From BBC

“It was an excellent color, but it made me think of the things on the back of a toilet that cover the extra roll of toilet paper,” Lawson recalls.

From Los Angeles Times

“There was no one to take care of my wife and baby. I even needed help to use the toilet.”

From BBC

Related Words

• latrine
• lavatory
• outhouse
• restroom