What does "loo" mean?
A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
Loo
/lu/ intj, name, noun, verb, slang
intj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
- Grammar: loo is listed as intj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: water closet, backhouse, basement, bathroom.
- Usage evidence: Child: "I need to go to the loo." - Mother: "Number one or number two?"
How to use "loo"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "loo" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "loo" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "loo" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "loo" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "loo" is acting as intj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "water closet" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "loo", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK
"I suppose it is unreal because we have been expecting it [sc. World War II] for so long now, and have known that it must be got over before we can go on with our lives. Like in the night when you want to go to the loo and it is miles away down a freezing cold passage and yet you know you have to go down that passage before you can be happy and sleep again."
- 2 Alternative form of lanterloo: the card game. alt-of, alternative, uncountable
"And my Intreagues ſo baſhfully diſown / That they may doubted be by few or none, / May kiſs the Cards at Picque, Hombre,—Lu, / And ſo be taught to kiſs the Lady too; [...]"
- 3 A half-mask, particularly (historical) those velvet half-masks fashionable in the 17th century as a means of protecting women's complexion from the sun. obsolete
"Loo Mask. An half Mask."
- 4 A hot dust-bearing wind found in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab. India
"It was a pitchy black night, as stifling as a June night can be, and the loo, the red-hot wind from the westward, was booming among the tinder-dry trees and pretending that the rain was on its heels."
- 5 A lieutenant. US, slang
"I asked my loo to let me escort you in. I wanted a moment to thank you personally.” “There's no need.” “So you said before, but there is. And was. I'll take you in to Lieutenant Ricchio.”"
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 a toilet in Britain wordnet
- 7 A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK
"The lack of running water in rural areas often makes Western-style loos hygienic disasters. Suddenly the noncontact squat toilet doesn′t look like such a bad option any more (as long as you roll up your trouser legs)."
- 8 The penalty paid to the pool in lanterloo for breaking certain rules or failing to take a trick. uncountable
- 9 An act that prompts such a penalty. uncountable
- 10 A game of lanterloo. uncountable
- 11 Any group of people. figuratively, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To urge on with cries of loo or (figuratively) by other shouting or outcry. dialectal
"And therefore next uncouple either Hound [sc. George Monck and Prince Rupert], And loo them at two Hares ere one be found."
- 2 To beat in the card game lanterloo. transitive
"He was seldom indeed without two good trumps, and therefore almost invariably loo'd those who stood."
- 3 To pay a penalty to the pool for breaking certain rules or failing to take a trick in lanterloo.
- 4 To pay any penalty to any community. dialectal, figuratively
Intj
- 1 A cry to urge on hunting dogs.
"Edg. Pilicock sate on pelicocks hill, a lo lo lo."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Child: "I need to go to the loo." - Mother: "Number one or number two?""
Common questions
What is a synonym for "loo"?
Common synonyms include: water closet, backhouse, basement, bathroom, bathroom, bathroom fixture.
How do you use "loo" in a sentence?
Child: "I need to go to the loo." - Mother: "Number one or number two?"
How do you pronounce "loo"?
Pronounced /lu/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Uncertain, although usually derived in some way from Waterloo, the site of Wellington's 1815 victory over Napoleon, likely via a pun based on water closet. Other suggested derivations include corruptions of French l'eau (“water”), lieu (“place”), lieux d'aisances (“'places of convenience': a lavatory”), lieu à l'anglaise (“'English place': a British-style lavatory”), bordalou (“a diminutive chamber pot”) or gardez l'eau (“'mind the water'”), via Scots gardyloo, formerly used in Edinburgh while emptying chamber pots out of windows; the supposed use of "Room 100" as the lavatory in Continental hotels; a popularisation of lew, a regional corruption of lee (“downwind”), in reference to shepherds' privies or the former use of beakheads on that side of the ship for urination and defecation; or a clipped form of the name of the unpopular 19th-century Countess of Lichfield Lady Harriett Georgiana Louisa Hamilton Anson, who was the subject of an 1867 prank whereby her bedroom's name-card was placed on the door to the lavatory, prompting the other guests to begin speaking of "going to Lady Louisa".
Etymology 2
Clipped form of halloo.
Etymology 3
Clipped form of lanterloo.
Etymology 4
From French loup (“wolf; mask, eyemask”). Doublet of lobo, lupus, and wolf.
Etymology 5
From Hindi लू (lū), ultmately from Sanskrit उल्का (ulkā, “flame”).
Etymology 6
Clipped form of lieutenant.
Etymology 7
* As a Dutch and north German surname, from loo (“wood, clearing”). * As a Chinese surname, spelling variant of Lu.