Forms: 4–7 lavatorie, -ye, 6 lavatori, lavetarye, 4– lavatory. [ad. L. lavātōrium a place for washing, f. lavāre to wash: see LAVE v.1]
1. A vessel for washing, a laver, a bath. Also Eccl. † (a) a piscina; (b) (see quot. 1866).
a. 1375. Lay Folks Mass Bk., App. IV. 606. Whon he haþ vsed he walkeþ riht To Lauatorie þer hit is diht For to wassche his hende.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxx. 18. And thow shalt make a brasun lauatory with his foot to wasshe with.
14[?]. Lydg., in Lay Folks Mass Bk., App. v. 135. Whan the preste gothe to the lauatori.
1412. Contract for Catterick Church (1834), 10. An awter and a lauatory acordaunt in the este end.
1435. Contract for Fotheringhay Church, in Dugdale, Monast. (1673), III. II. 163. Lavatoris in aither side of the wall, which shall serve for four Auters.
1519. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 100. To be buried wtin the where, nyghte to the lavatori.
1538. Inv., in Archæol., LI. 72. Itm the lavetarye of tynne and lead.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., III. sect. xv. 77. They should dip in his lavatory, and be washed with his baptism.
1839. Longf., Hyperion, IV. iii. On a lavatory, below, sat a cherub.
1856. Direct. Angl. (ed. 3), 355. Lavatory, a water drain in the Sacristy where the Priest washes his hands before vesting.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 74. The lavatorye we graunte of immortalite Here in this watir.
a. 1500. Mankind (Brandl 1896), 39/12. By hys gloryus passyone, þat blyssyde lauatorye.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 60 b. As in the lauatory of grace thou mayst wasshe … the … by confessyon.
1631. Weever, Anc. Funeral Mon., 310. The lauatorie of holy regeneration.
a. 1633. Austin, Medit. (1635), 196. Converting it [Jordan] into the Lavatory of Baptisme.
2. a. Eccl. The ritual washing of the celebrant’s hands: (a) at the offertory (cf. LAVABO 1 a); † (b) after the cleansing of the vessels following the communion.
a. 1512. Fabyan, Will, in Chron., Pref. 4. Wt condicion that at the tyme of the Lavatory eueryche of theym turne theym to the people, and exorte theym to pray for ye soules following.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 261. From the latter lauatory vnto Ite missa est.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 899/2. When he had sayd Masse, he made Dukes and Earles … to hold the bason at the Lauatories.
1896. Brightman, Liturgies E. & W., I. Gloss., Lavatory, the handwashing on the part of the minister at the offertory…. While the offertory either wholly or in part has been moved back to the beginning of the [Eastern] liturgy, the lavatory has generally kept its place.
b. gen. The act of washing.
1620. Shelton, Quix., II. xxxii. 211. The Duke and Duchesse … stood expecting what would become of this Lauatory.
† 3. A lotion, a wash. Obs.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxviii. 110. They must be wasshed wyth wyne or wyth some other lauatorye.
1544. Phaër, Regim. Lyfe (1560), H iv b. Ye may minister the lavatorie that herafter ensueth.
1665. Harvey, Advice agst. Plague, 14. Lavatories to wash the temples, hands, wrists, and Jugulars.
1694. Westmacott, Script. Herb., 19. Barbers use them for their grateful smell to perfume their lavatories and washes.
4. An apartment furnished with apparatus for washing the hands and face. Now often including water-closets, etc.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Lavatory, a place or vessel to wash in, a Font or Conduit; 1661 [addition] such is that at the Buttery door of the Inner Temple, where the Gentlemen wash their hands; also a Laundry.
1845. W. Saunders, Guide Brighton, 68. By a sudden turn to the left, we attain ‘The Cottage’; at the far end of its porch is the gentlemen’s room, denominated by a contemporary a Lavatory.
1860. Luck of Ladysmede, II. 78. The good Benedictine carried him off into the lavatory.
1864. Morning Star, 2 Feb. There are separate lavatories for the men and for the women and children.
5. A laundry.
1661. [see prec. sense].
1878. Stevenson, Inland Voy., 180. We landed at a floating lavatory, where the washerwomen were still beating the clothes.
6. = LAVADERO.
1727–52. Chambers, Cycl., Lavatory, or Lavadero.
7. (See quot.)
185[?]. Archit. Dict. (Archit. Publ. Soc.), Lavatory, a paved room, belonging to a dead-house, in which a corpse that is to be examined is kept under a shower of some disinfecting fluid.
8. attrib.: † lavatory stone, a piscina.
1487–8. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 651. iiijor spultes cum j lavatory stone.
