lav-, lava-, lavat-

(Latin: wash, washing; bathe, bathing; by extension, clean, cleaning)

From Latin lavare, "to wash, to bathe" and is related to Latin luere, luto-, "to wash".

latrine (s) (noun), latrines (pl)
1. A toilet or something used as a toilet, as a trench in the earth; especially, in a military camp, or bivouac area.
2. A public toilet in a military area.
3. Etymology: first recorded about 1297, from Latin latrina, contraction of lavatrina, "washbasin, washroom", from lavatus, past participle of lavare, "to wash" + -trina, a suffix denoting "workplace".

Its reappearance in 1642 is probably a re-borrowing from French; especially, of a privy of a camp, barracks, college, hospital, etc. Latrine rumor, "baseless gossip" (of the kind that spreads in conversations in latrines) is military slang, first recorded in about 1918.

latrinologist (s) (noun), latrinologists (pl)
A person who studies and analyzes the writings or graffiti on restroom walls.
latrinology (s) (noun) latrinologies (pl)
The study of latrine graffiti; latrinalia
launder (s) (noun), launders (pl)
1. A washerwoman
2. A trough used by miners to receive powdered ore from the box where it is beaten, or for carrying water to aother apparatus for sorting the ore.
3. A gutter for rainwater.
launder (verb), launders; laundered; laudering
1. To wash clothes, linens, etc.
2. Informal usage: to disguise the source of illegal or secret funds or profits; usually by transmittal through a foreign bank or a complex network of intermediaries; to disguise the true nature of a transaction, operation, etc. by routing money or goods through one or more intermediaries.
3. To remove embarrassing or unpleasant characteristics or elements as from a person's reputation or character in order to make them more acceptable to others: Noah's brother will have to launder his image if he wants to run for political office.
launderer (s) (noun), launderers (pl)
1. Someone who is involved with the business of washing clothes.
2. Slang referring to anyone who transfers (as illegally obtained money or investments) through an outside party to conceal the true source of such funds.
laundress (s) (noun), laundresses (pl)
A woman who does washing and ironing; especially, one who does other people's washing and ironing as a way of earning a living.
laundry (s) (noun), laundries (pl)
1. Articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.
2. A business establishment where clothes, linens, etc., are laundered.
3. A room or area, as in a home or apartment building, reserved for washing items of clothing, etc.
4. Etymology: from about 1530, from Old French lavanderie, which came from Latin lavendaria, plural of lavandarium, "things to be washed"; from lavare, "to wash".
lava (s) (noun), lavas (pl)
1. The molten, fluid rock that issues from a volcano or volcanic vent: Geologists make a difference in meanings of magma, or molten rock underground, and lava which is molten rock on the surface.
2. The rock formed by lava when it solidifies, occurring in many varieties differing greatly in structure and constitution: Lava was appropriately named by people living near Mount Vesuvius which is the only active volcano on the European mainland and it has erupted frequently since Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried by it in A.D. 79.
3. Etymology: first recorded about 1750, from Italian (Neapolitan or Calabrian dialect) lava "torrent, stream", traditionally from Latin lavare "to wash". Originally applied in Italian to flash flood rivulets after downpours, then to streams of molten rock from Vesuvius. Alternate etymology is from Latin labes "a fall" from labi "to fall".

The Neapolitans who lived near Mount Vesuvius took the Italian word lava, meaning "a stream caused suddenly by rain," and applied it to the streams of molten rock coming down the sides of Vesuvius and then the term was then taken into Standard Italian, where it came to mean the "rock" in both its molten and its solidified states.

The Italian word in all its senses was borrowed into English around the middle of the 18th century (1750 being the earliest date on record).

lavabo (s) (noun), lavaboes (pl)
1. The ceremonial washing of the hands and recitation from the Psalms by the celebrant before the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches; often capitalized as, Lavabo.
2. The ritual washing of the celebrant's hands after the offertory in the Mass, accompanied in the Roman rite by the recitation of Psalm 26:6–12.
3. In many medieval monasteries; a large stone basin equipped with a number of small orifices through which water flowed, used for the performance of ablutions.
4. A washbowl with a spigot-equipped water tank above, both mounted on a wall: now often used for decoration or as a planter.
lavabrum (s) (Latin noun), lavabri (pl)
In Rome, a bathtub: "Something in which some Romans bathed and that were made of marble and sometimes richly sculptured."
lavacultophilia (s) (noun), lavacultophilias (pl)
A desire to look at, to stare at, or to ogle people wearing bathing suits.
lavage (s) (noun), lavages (pl)
1. Washing of a body cavity.
2. Irrigation of a body or organ cavity; such as, of the stomach, bowel, bladder, etc.
3. The purification of a solid, liquid, or gas by means of a substance or solution that is not itself contaminated and will not dissolve or decompose the substance to be purified.
lavation (s) (noun), lavations (pl)
1. An act of washing or cleansing.
2. The process of lavage; ablution.
3. The work of cleansing (usually with soap and water).
lavational (adjective), more lavational, most lavational
A reference to something that is, or has gone, through the process of being washed.

Related "wash" words: balneo-; clys-; luto-; plyno-.