n.
- a large bowl for urinating or defecating into, typically plumbed into a sewage system; a lavatory.
- the process of washing oneself, dressing, and attending to one's appearance.
▸
[as modifier]
denoting articles used in this process.
- the cleansing of part of a person's body as a medical procedure.
v.
(toilets, toileting, toileted)
[
usu. as noun toileting]
assist or supervise (an infant or invalid) in using a toilet.
History
Toilet came from French toilette ‘cloth, wrapper’ and ultimately from Latin tela ‘woven material, web’. In 16th-century English a toilet was originally a cloth for wrapping clothes, then a cloth cover for a dressing table, the articles used in dressing, and eventually the process of dressing and washing oneself. In the 19th century toilet came to denote a dressing room with washing facilities; from this the modern meaning of ‘lavatory’ arose in the early 20th century.
