Also 7 Sc. latron, lateran. [a. Fr. (chiefly in pl. latrines), a. L. lātrīna privy, contr. f. lavātrīna, f. lavāre to wash.] A privy, esp. in a camp, barracks, hospital, or similar place.
1642. Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (Bannatyne Club), II. 82. He also tirred the laterans in the Colledge, whereby the studentis had not sic naturall eisment as befoir.
1673–88. Fountainhall, in M. P. Brown, Suppl. Decis. (1826), III. 293. The public river of Tweed, whose use is common, and which dimits in the sea which is the latrons and receptacle of the universe.
1808. T. Craufurd, Univ. Edin., 150. 1628 and 1629, the publick latrines … were built where now they stand.
1867. Standard, 23 Nov., 3/4. The longer the occupation of the camp the greater necessity for good drainage, for making new and filling up old latrines, [etc.].
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 311. Cesspits are now discontinued in most barracks, and water latrines are used.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 59/1. Enamelled Earthenware Latrine.
1897. Hughes, Mediterr. Fever, v. 181. Latrines are for want of space often in close proximity to bed-rooms.
