Dictionary

powder room en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

In reference to lavatories, an indirection developed under the influence of powder one's nose, a euphemism for using a toilet. Compare boudoir.

Meanings

1. (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 see a man about a dog.
   • 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. 1927, E.A. Park, chapter IX, in New Backgrounds for a New Age, page 173:
   • Whispers in the powder room / She cries on every tune 1988, Womack & Womack, “Teardrops”:
   • There are separate lavatories for ladies and gentlemen in each coach and the provision of a special powder room for ladies in the first class is an entirely new feature. 1957 April 14, “British Railways Prototype Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 243:
2. (euphemistic) Synonym of half bath: a small room with a toilet and sink but no bathtub or shower.
   • The house — four stories high and 22 feet wide — has five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and a powder room, along with three fireplaces and a finished basement with a gym and laundry. 2025 October 28, Vivian Marino, “Lily Allen and David Harbour List Their Brooklyn Brownstone”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
3. A room used to store gunpowder, particularly (historical) on a ship equipped with cannon.
   • Are you insane? Don't take a candle into the powder room!
   • Mutiny is a thing of the fatallest nature in all enterprises whatsoever; a thing so incalculable, swift-frightful; not to be dealt with in fright. But mutiny in a Robespierre Convention, above all,—it is like fire seen sputtering in the ship’s powder-room! 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “To Finish the Terror”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume III (The Guillotine), London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, book VI (Thermidor):
4. (historical) A room used to powder hair and wigs.

Forms

Relateds

take a powder · powder one's nose

Synonyms

necessarium · closet of ease · shitter · office · dunny · comfort room · place · toilet · potty · purging place · bathroom · closet · amenities · office of ease · necessary · teahouse · privy · WC · khazi · kocay · jacks · vault · brasco · six · karzy · tearoom · netty · urinal · jacques · shield · throne room · toilet room · lavatory · dike · washroom · loo · restroom · crapper · ladies' room · smallest room · bogger · closet of decency · necessary room · water closet · withdraught · bog · siege · lavvy · latrine · House of Lords · ladies and gentlemen · CR · small room · geography · wardrobe · neddy · john · cludgie · cloaca · urination station · lav · facilities · half bath · johnny · necessary place · usual offices · jakes · lats · powder closet · can · thunderbox · house of office · cottage · carsey · lavabo · powder magazine

Translations (10)

pl toaleta damska (ladies room) · hu lőporraktár (room to store powder) · pl prochownia (room to store powder) · cmn 化妝室 /化妆室 (ladies room) · bg дамска тоалетна (ladies room) · de Badezimmer (ladies room) · de Toilette (ladies room) · fr sainte-barbe (room to store powder) · hu lőportár (room to store powder) · de Pulverkammer (room to store powder)