Toilet ˈtɔɪlət Flushed I Facilities Room Washing Dressing

• have you flushed the toilet?
• i need to go to the toilet (= use the toilet).
• a toilet seat
• toilet facilities

toilet

1. a large bowl attached to a pipe that you sit on or stand over when you get rid of waste matter from your body
• Have you flushed the toilet?
• I need to go to the toilet (= use the toilet).
• a toilet seat
• toilet facilities
• Do you need the toilet?
2. a room containing a toilet
• Every flat has its own bathroom and toilet.
• Who's in the toilet?
3. a room or small building containing several toilets, each in a separate smaller room
• public toilets
• Could you tell me where the ladies' toilet is, please?
4. the process of washing and dressing yourself, arranging your hair, etc.

Extra Examples

• He flushed the letter down the toilet.
• I need to go to the toilet.
• Someone’s forgotten to flush the toilet.
• The caravan is equipped with a sink and a flush toilet.
• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.
• Could you tell me where the ladies’ toilet is, please?
• The toilets are located in the entrance area.
• Toilet facilities for the disabled are available.
• Who’s in the toilet?

Word Origin

• mid 16th cent.: from French toilette ‘cloth, wrapper’, diminutive of toile ‘cloth, web’, from Latin tela ‘web’. The word originally denoted a cloth used as a wrapper for clothes; then (in the 17th cent.) a cloth cover for a dressing table, the articles used in dressing, and the process of dressing, later also of washing oneself (sense (4)). In the 19th cent. the word came to denote a dressing room, and, in the US, one with washing facilities; hence, a lavatory (early 20th cent.).