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toilet

 - 4 dictionary results

toi⋅let

[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, esp. 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.
11. go down (or in) the toilet, to become worthless or profitless; be doomed: The team's entire season went down the toilet.
Also, toilette (for defs. 6, 8).


Origin:
1530–40; < F toilette small cloth, doily, dressing table, equiv. to toile toil 2 + -ette -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To toilet
toi·let   (toi'lĭt)   
n.  
    1. A fixture for defecation and urination, consisting of a bowl fitted with a hinged seat and connected to a waste pipe and a flushing apparatus; a privy.

    2. A room or booth containing such a fixture.

  1. The act or process of dressing or grooming oneself.

  2. Dress; attire; costume.

  3. The cleansing of a body area as part of a surgical or medical procedure.

  4. Archaic A dressing table.


[French toilette, clothes bag, from Old French tellette, diminutive of teile, cloth; see toil2.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

toilet 
1540, "cover or bag for clothes," from M.Fr. toilette "a cloth, bag for clothes," dim. of toile "cloth, net" (see toil (2)). Sense evolution is to "act or process of dressing" (1681); then "a dressing room" (1819), especially one with a lavatory attached; then "lavatory or porcelain plumbing fixture" (1895), an Amer.Eng. euphemistic use. Toilet paper is attested from 1884. Toilet training is recorded from 1940.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: toi·let
Pronunciation: 'toi-l&t
Function: noun
: cleansing in preparation for or in association with a medical or surgical proceduretoilet>
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