loo

Meanings

Interjection

• A cry to urge on hunting dogs.

Verb

• To urge on with cries of loo or by other shouting or outcry.
• To beat in the card game lanterloo.
• To pay a penalty to the pool for breaking certain rules or failing to take a trick in lanterloo.
• To pay any penalty to any community.

Noun

• Alternative of lanterloo: the card game.
• The penalty paid to the pool in lanterloo for breaking certain rules or failing to take a trick.
• An act that prompts such a penalty.
• A game of lanterloo.
• Any group of people.
• A half-mask, particularly those velvet half-masks fashionable in the 17th century as a means of protecting women's complexion from the sun.
• A hot dust-bearing wind found in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab.
• A lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
• A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation.
• Lieutenant.

Origin

• Clipped form of halloo.
• Clipped form of lanterloo.
• From French loup ("wolf; mask, eyemask"). wolf.
• From Hindi उल्का, from Sanskrit उल्का ("flame").
• Of uncertain etymology, 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, lieux d'aisances, lieu à l'anglaise, bordalou the supposed use of "Room 100" as the lavatory in Continental hotels;
• Clipped form of lieutenant.