Most Americans of the 19th century did not have a dedicated bathroom and used an outhouse or outdoor privies. They were called “necessary houses” or “houses of office” by some. The original outhouse remains on the grounds of Cape May's 1879
If it is a euphemism for lavatory, there were may words: lavatory, outhouse, dunny, privy, WC, shithouse…..
"Lavatory" (from the Latin lavatorium, "wash basin" or "washroom") was common in the 19th century and is still broadly understood, although it is taken as quite formal in American English, and more often refers to public toilets in Britain. The contraction "lav" is commonly used in British English.
The Bog. This is an informal way of referring to the toilet, and dates back to the late 1700s when the toilet was called the bog house.
Back then they called it a privy. Also look up the story of the fat King of Eglon (in the Bible). There is a privy scene there too. Early in man's history starting with Adam in circa 4026 BCE, he could only imitate the animals he saw and was naming.
The outhouse of the 1770s was known as a “necessary,” or a “privy.” Benjamin Franklin's brick-lined “privy pit” is even marked at the spot of his former Philadelphia residence of 1787. Several years ago, sanitation was voted as the world's biggest medical advancement since 1840.
The Privy. A privy was basically an unlined cesspool in the ground with a wooden hut built over it. A wooden shelf stretched across, with a nice, bottom sized hole in the middle. You sat here and did your business, with your waste dropping down into the hole.
The Privy. Rarely used these days, 'the privy' originally meant a hidden place or the sharing of secret or private thoughts. Over time, however, especially in the North of England and Scotland, the word privy was conflated with toilet, and eventually, this new meaning supplanted the old meaning.
In many ways, the Victorian bathroom has served as the foundation for modern bathroom design as we know it. While many rooms in the typical Victorian home were often dark, cluttered and heavily decorated, by contrast, Victorian bathrooms were far more practical but no less beautiful.
Medieval toilets, just as today, were often referred to by a euphemism, the most common being 'privy chamber', just 'privy' or 'garderobe'. Other names included the 'draught', 'gong', 'siege-house', 'neccessarium', and even 'Golden Tower'.
lavatory powder room restroom toilet washroom water closet.
By the late 1880s, as indoor plumbing with water tanks and gas water heaters became more widely available, houses for the middle classes were built with bathrooms equipped with cast iron full-length baths. Victorian baths were usually regarded as furniture and tended to boxed in.
crapper (taboo, slang) dunny (Australian, New Zealand, old-fashioned, informal) people who don't wash their hands after using the dunny. water closet. khazi (slang)
For a long time, at least in Europe, instead of a shower you took Rain Baths (“bain de pluie,” in French), and later shampoo baths. It was seen as a novelty, and it took until the late 1800s for the idea to catch on.
The bog. One of the most commonly known and albeit, cruder terms has to be the “bog”. To simply put it, the term “bog” comes from quite a literal sense back in 1789 from the 'boghouse', which is British slang meaning to defecate.
No one's entirely sure where “biffy” comes from, but it's common in parts of Canada and the midwestern US states. Some think it's a variation of “privy,” while others point to the word “bivouac” as its likely origin.
The Roman world had both private and public toilets - latrinae were individual toilets (domestic or public), foricae (singular forica) were multi-seat, open concept facilities that were often found in public areas near water features, sewer lines, or balneae (Roman bathing facilities).
Sinks were installed first in bedrooms, as a replacement for the pitchers of water and basins that had previously been ferried in and out by servants. Bathtubs and toilets each got their own rooms—with toilets placed farther away from living spaces due to the smell.
If you've stayed at a design-oriented hotel lately, you may know what I'm talking about: Bathrooms with windows or glass walls that allow the occupant to see out into the rest of the room -- and anyone else in the room to see in.
latrine lavatory outhouse restroom. Strong matches. can commode head john potty privy throne W.C. washroom.
'Washroom' is another formal word that most English speakers will understand. It is mostly used in the USA. 'Restroom' is a safe term to use in the United States and won't offend anyone. When traveling on motorways, signs may appear announcing “rest stops”.
17th and 18th Century Toilets Became Cesspits
By the time the 17th century arrived, and well into the 18th century, those latrines superbly created by the Romans were a distant memory. During this time, many took to their gardens to create a cesspit where they would bury their waste.
Options included rocks, leaves, grass, moss, animal fur, corn cobs, coconut husks, sticks, sand, and sea shells.
Most Americans of the 19th century did not have a dedicated bathroom and used an outhouse or outdoor privies. They were called “necessary houses” or “houses of office” by some. The original outhouse remains on the grounds of Cape May's 1879 Physick Estate.
Before throwing the waste out the window, they'd yell “Guardez l'eau!” The term “guardez l'eau” first came to English as “gardy-loo” and then shortened to “loo”, which eventually came to mean the toilet itself.