gentlemen's room

== English == === Etymology === Originally a clipped form of waiting room; in later use, a clipped form of lavatory room, toilet room, private room, etc. === Noun === gentlemen's room (plural gentlemen's rooms) Any room intended for use by men, particularly: 1843, J. Saunders, London, Vol. V, page 278: From the indenture... we learn that the house [sc. the Fortune Theater] had three tiers, consisting of boxes, rooms, and galleries; that there were "two-penny rooms," and "gentlemen's"... (historical) A waiting room in a railway station or other public building, often including a separate lavatory. 1864 January 26, J.G. Lindsay, letter to P.P.L. O'Connel, §8: Arconum—I found two chairs wanting in the gentlemen's room, and the bath room attached applied to other purposes... 1875 January, John Scholfield, opinion of the Illinois Supreme Court in TW&W Ry Co v Williams: He had no lady with him, and his excuse for being in the ladies' room was, the gentlemen's room was too filthy. The little room into which he had gone was the ladies' water-closet... There were signs plainly printed on the doors, showing which rooms were for gentlemen and which for ladies and over the entrance to the little room, from which appellee was ejected, is printed the words: "Ladies' Private Room." (euphemistic, dated) Synonym of men's room: a public lavatory intended for males. 1873 July 16, William P. Blake, "Report... upon the Organization, Administration, and Results of the Vienna International Exhibition, 1873", §xi: In each ladies' lavatory-room in the palace there were four pairs of these basins, and in each gentlemen's room three pairs and a range of five. ==== Synonyms ==== (lavatory): See Thesaurus:bathroom ==== Hypernyms ==== (lavatory): See Thesaurus:bathroom (waiting room): waiting room ==== Coordinate terms ==== ladies' room ==== Derived terms ==== gentlemen, gentlemen's, gentlemens, gents', gents