powder room

powder room

1. A small bathroom in a house, typically on the lower level, consisting of a toilet and a sink but not a bath or shower. There is a powder room at the end of the hallway you may use.
2. A public restroom for women. Excuse me, could you please tell me where your powder room is? One moment, I just need to go use the powder room.
3. obsolete A gunpowder magazine (a storage facility for gunpowder) contained within a larger building. What are you doing with an open flame near the powder room, you fool?
See also: powder, room
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

powder room

1. n. a small bathroom without bathing facilities in a private home, usually located for the convenience of guests. Excuse me, where is the powder room?
2. n. the ladies’ restroom in a public place, especially a restaurant; the place women go to powder their noses. (The emphasis is on comforts other than toilet facilities, such as mirrors, places to rest, and even a maid to help with emergency repairs of makeup or clothing.) The ladies went to the powder room. They’ll be back in a minute.
See also: powder, room
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • rain closet
  • use the toilet
  • library
  • privy
  • privy to
  • in the toilet
  • go to the toilet
  • hug the throne
  • worship the porcelain god
  • praise the porcelain god
References in periodicals archive
Duravit is offering furnishing ideas to tackle unavoidable design challenges due to space limitations, faced by many guest bathrooms and powder rooms, that leave them looking cramped or sparsely furnished.
Functionally, a powder room needs only a toilet, a sink, and minimal storage for hand towels, so it's usually the sink that becomes the most prominent design element.
A powder room and small staff bedroom and bath are tucked discreetly behind the kitchen, while two good-sized guest bedrooms with walk-in closets and en suite bathrooms share the upper floor with a commodious corner master suite complete with two huge walk-in closets, marble-walled bathroom, and unimpeded views that sweep across the Hudson River.
The 57-year-old actress took on the company to redo her master bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and powder room at an estimated cost of [euro]207,000 but she claims in her lawsuit they did a poor job on a number of tasks.
Featuring a beach-inspired interior design and a floor plan emphasizing a connection to outdoor spaces overlooking the Sarasota community's Robert Trent Jones Jr-designed golf course, lake and nature preserves, the Girona offers a formal dining room, study, home office and great room, as well as three full baths and a powder room within 3,526 square feet of interior living space.
Her new film may have only cost PS175,000 to make, but Sheridan Smith is proud that Powder Room shows a side to young women not often seen on screen.
The guest bathroom, powder room and study can be found on the ground floor along with a storage room and a grand living and dining area boasting views of the outside water feature and courtyard.
' There is a symmetry and simplicity about the Georgian style which I find very calming,' says Linda as she reveals the downstairs loo, actually a Powder Room the size of the average home's main bathroom and more besides.
Charming for a powder room or sitting area, this mini from Murray Feiss' Maison De Ville collection is finished in British Bronze and detailed with hand-polished faceted crystals.
My tiny downstairs powder room is squeezed into a space off The kitchen and at the top of the basement stairs of my pre-War colonial in northern New Jersey.
This powder room vanity was designed to make a small space appear less crowded, while still providing ample storage.
In the bathroom, a separate space with a toilet and sink does double-duty, acting as an auxiliary powder room for the home's formal, main-floor spaces.
She entered a competition in 2001 with a 30 minute script titled The Powder Room.
Karen's relationship with the BBC began when she won competition in 2001 with a 30-minute script entitled The Powder Room which focused on two debt-laden women who sell stolen clothes in a pub toilet in a bid to free themselves of their problems.