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gentlemen's. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
gentlemen's, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
gentlemen's in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Clipping of gentlemen's room, originally a waiting room for men but by the first attestation of gentlemen's in general use as a euphemism for a men's lavatory.
Noun
gentlemen's (plural gentlemen's)
- possessive case of gentlemen: belonging to some or all gentlemen.
- (informal euphemistic) Synonym of men's room: a lavatory intended for use by men.
1898, The Hotel/Motor Hotel Monthly, volume 6, page 27:A gents' toilet room might be found in a house that caters for the cheaper class of theatrical patronage, where the slangy language of the "goin' to the mat this aft?" style prevails. A gents toilet room is not found in the Southern Hotel. It either "men's" or "gentlemen's".
1933, James Ian Arbuthnot Frazer as "Shamus Frazer", Acorned Hog, page 78:Over on that platform's the general waiting-room,... and over there's the Gentlemen's, and, any'ow, everythink's written up.
1934, Evelyn Waugh, chapter III, in Handful of Dust, page 117:"I tell you what I must do, is to telephone. Where is it?"
"D'you mean really the telephone or the gentlemen's?"
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
References
- "gentleman, n." in the Oxford English Dictionary (1898), Oxford: Oxford University Press.