lavabo
nounUK /ləˈveɪbəʊ/
Etymology From the Christian ritual, which was traditionally accompanied in Catholicism by a recitation of Psalm 25:6 (Psalm 26:6, in the Hebrew and in most modern translations) which in Latin begins with the word lavābō (“I will wash”). The sense of "room with a toilet" developed under the influence of lavatory and lav.
Christianity A ritual involving the washing of one's hands at a church's offertory before handling the Eucharist.
Christianity The small towel used to dry the priest's hands following the ritual.
- These small liturgical towels got […] the name of Lavabo cloths or Lavaboes.1870, Daniel Rock, Textile Fabrics, page 203:
A washbasin, particularly (Christianity) the one in a church used in the ritual.
- […] the […] pontiff, as he […] moved his hands […] at the Lavabo, or at the various benedictions […]1885, Walter Horatio Peter, Marius the Epicurean, Bk. iv, Ch. xxiii:
Architecture A trough used for washing at some medieval monasteries.
Euphemistic, Humorous A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
- Mr. Pond fussed out and she heard the door of the little lavabo in the passage open with a loud creak.1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, chapter XIV, in Strong Poision, page 177: