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Definition 2024


powder_room

powder room

English

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 in 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 seeing a man about a dog.
    • 1927, E.A. Park, New Backgrounds for a New Age, Ch. ix, 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 Wikisaurus:bathroom

Related terms

References

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