house of office

== English == === Etymology === From the mostly archaic sense of office as a "duty" or "function" and hence unmentionable "bodily functions". === Noun === house of office (plural houses of office) (obsolete, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory. 1660 20 October, Samuel Pepys, diary: Going down my cellar to look, I put my foot into a heap of turds, by which I find that Mr Turner’s house of office is full and comes into my cellar, which doth trouble me; but I will have it helped. 1764 August 5, David Garrick, letter: I never, since I left England, till now, have regal'd Myself with a good house of Office... the holes in Germany are... too round, chiefly owing... to the broader bottoms of the Germans. ==== Synonyms ==== See Thesaurus:bathroom ==== Related terms ==== house of ease === References === Oxford English Dictionary. "office, n."