loo

CEFRB1

/luː/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A toilet; an informal British word.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A cry to urge on hunting dogs.

Examples

  • Who's the wally who's chucked his socks in the loo?

  • Child: "I need to go to the loo." - Mother: "Number one or number two?"

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation.

  2. A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To urge on with cries of loo or (figuratively) by other shouting or outcry.

More examples

In context

  • Tom is on the loo.

  • Yet, ladies are seldom at ombre or lue sick.

  • Ensure that the tents are well-sited and clean, rubbish bins empty, and that the loos have toilet paper.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the British pub, he asked for the key to the blank because he urgently needed to use the toilet.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Uncertain, although usually derived in some way from Waterloo, the site of Wellington's 1815 victory over Napoleon, likely via a pun based on water closet. Other suggested derivations include corruptions of French l'eau (“water”), lieu (“place”), lieux d'aisances (“'places of convenience': a lavatory”), lieu à l'anglaise (“'English place': a British-style lavatory”), bordalou (“a diminutive chamber pot”) or gardez l'eau (“'mind the water'”), via Scots gardyloo, formerly used in Edinburgh while emptying chamber pots out of windows; the supposed use of "Room 100" as the lavatory in Continental hotels; a popularisation of lew, a regional corruption of lee (“downwind”), in reference to shepherd...