powder room

English

Etymology

In reference to lavatories, an indirection developed under the influence of powder one's nose (“euphemism for use a toilet”). Compare boudoir.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

powder room (plural powder rooms)

1. A room used to store gunpowder, particularly (historical) on a ship equipped with cannon.

   Are you insane? Don't take a candle into the powder room!

2. (historical) A room used to powder hair and wigs.
3. (originally US, euphemistic) Synonym of ladies' room: a lavatory intended for use by women.

   If you'll excuse me, I need to visit the powder room to see a man about a dog.

   • 1927, E.A. Park, chapter IX, in New Backgrounds for a New Age, page 173:

     They are the authors of the small powder room in the Hofbrau House at Broadway and Fifty-third Street, New York, a very modern creation.

4. (euphemistic) Synonym of half bath: a small room with a toilet and sink but no bathtub or shower.

Synonyms

• (gunpowder storage): powder magazine
• (powdering room): powder closet
• (lavatory for women): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Related terms

• powder one's nose
• take a powder

Translations

room to store powder

• German: Pulverkammer (de) f

ladies room

• Bulgarian: дамска тоалетна (damska toaletna)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化妝室／化妆室 (zh) (huàzhuāngshì)

• German: Toilette (de) f, Badezimmer (de) n

References

• "powder room, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary (2006), Oxford: Oxford University Press.