lavatorium

Noun

lavatorium (plural lavatoriums or lavatoria)

1. (rare) A washroom or -place.
   • [T]he attendant returned and invited her to go to the lavatorium. Here the Japanese girls were waiting, and they at once took possession of Esther; and placing her beneath a refreshing spray of luke-warm water, they began to massage her.1903, Max Pemberton, chapter VII, in Doctor Xavier, 3rd edition, London: Hodder and Stoughton […], page 76
   • Tea break over, the next stage is the equivalent of the Roman lavatorium and all the patients are called for their communal washroom ablutions, only almost none of them volunteer themselves to wash, or shave. ‘Have you had the chance to shave anybody, yet?’ asks the Charge Nurse.2010, Stephen Burrow, “Inviolable Protection”, in Buddleia Dance on the Asylum: A Nurse’s Journey through a Mental Hospital, Ely, Cambs.: Melrose Books, →ISBN, page 66
   1. (rare) Particularly, (architecture) the communal washing area in a monastery.
2. (rare) A lavatory.
   • A visit to the toilet proves embarrassing. Luke directs me to ‘the lavatorium’, a room with a long wooden bench that has four seats with holes the size of dinner plates.2015, Richard Graham, “The Fortress”, in Knight for a Day, London: Sagesse Press, →ISBN, page 48
   • So anyway, I began my journey meandering through the streets of Edinburgh, regretting the third cup of tea I’d had that morning. No matter, I thought, I know of a public lavatorium in Corstorphine (not a drug – actually an area of Edinburgh).2017, Chris Young, “The Preamble and the First Few Days”, in Walk a Mile: Tales of a Wandering Loon, Newark, Notts.: Trigger Press, published 2018, →ISBN, page 234
   1. (historical, rare) An ancient Roman lavatory.
      • After that, Probono fades into obscurity, save for a reference in the third volume of Caesar’s Gallic Suits pertaining to an inscription engraved on a wall in a public lavatorium which, freely translated, means “Probono gives it away-call MXC-IIVD.”1985, S. Sponte [pseudonym; David J. Millstein], “To Wit: Pro Bono Publico, and how he grew”, in The Pennsylvania Lawyer, volume 7, Harrisburg, Pa.: Pennsylvania Bar Association, page 38, columns 2–3
      • They say that because he’s missing so much of his liver, he can’t digest his food like normal people and hasn’t been to the lavatorium in years. They say he’s gonna blow like a volcano.2008, Carolyn Hennesy, “Newly ‘Maid’”, in Pandora Gets Jealous, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 18