"Cousin John" meaning in English

See Cousin John in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From John (“outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet”). Possibly derived from a "euphemistic phrase of excuse" (e.g., "visiting my cousin John" or "going to cousin John's house"), similar to modern use of "powdering one's nose", but this is unattested. Etymology templates: {{m|en|John||outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet}} John (“outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet”) Head templates: {{en-noun|-|head=Cousin John}} Cousin John (uncountable)
  1. (US, slang, obsolete) A place or device for urination and defecation: an outhouse or chamber pot. Tags: US, obsolete, slang, uncountable Categories (topical): Buildings, Rooms, Toilet (room) Synonyms: john [US], jakes [Irish], bathroom and Thesaurus:chamber pot, cuz john, cuzjohn, Cuz-John

Download JSON data for Cousin John meaning in English (3.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "John",
        "3": "",
        "4": "outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet"
      },
      "expansion": "John (“outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From John (“outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet”). Possibly derived from a \"euphemistic phrase of excuse\" (e.g., \"visiting my cousin John\" or \"going to cousin John's house\"), similar to modern use of \"powdering one's nose\", but this is unattested.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "head": "Cousin John"
      },
      "expansion": "Cousin John (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Buildings",
          "orig": "en:Buildings",
          "parents": [
            "Buildings and structures",
            "Architecture",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Art",
            "Sciences",
            "Culture",
            "All topics",
            "Society",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Rooms",
          "orig": "en:Rooms",
          "parents": [
            "Buildings and structures",
            "Architecture",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Art",
            "Sciences",
            "Culture",
            "All topics",
            "Society",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Toilet (room)",
          "orig": "en:Toilet (room)",
          "parents": [
            "Hygiene",
            "Rooms",
            "Health",
            "Buildings and structures",
            "Body",
            "Architecture",
            "Human",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Art",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Culture",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1735, Richard Waldron, \"A Freshman Guide\", in 1953, William Bentinck-Smith, The Harvard Book, p. 162",
          "text": "20. No freshman shall mingo against the College wall or go into the fellows' cuzjohn."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1741, \"The Customs of Harvard College\", in 1851, John Bartlett, A Collection of College Words and Customs, p. 319",
          "text": "18. No Freshman shall call or throw any thing across the College yard, nor go into the Fellow's Cuz-John.*\nAbbreviated for Cousin John, i.e. a privy."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, “Public Privies to Private Baths”, in The Guide to United States Popular Culture, page 645",
          "text": "American males often used British terms such as Cousin John or Jake to refer to a privy or a chamber pot.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A place or device for urination and defecation: an outhouse or chamber pot."
      ],
      "id": "en-Cousin_John-en-noun-BO62GNOu",
      "links": [
        [
          "place",
          "place"
        ],
        [
          "device",
          "device"
        ],
        [
          "urination",
          "urination"
        ],
        [
          "defecation",
          "defecation"
        ],
        [
          "outhouse",
          "outhouse"
        ],
        [
          "chamber pot",
          "chamber pot"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang, obsolete) A place or device for urination and defecation: an outhouse or chamber pot."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "john"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "Irish"
          ],
          "word": "jakes"
        },
        {
          "word": "bathroom and Thesaurus:chamber pot"
        },
        {
          "word": "cuz john"
        },
        {
          "word": "cuzjohn"
        },
        {
          "word": "Cuz-John"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "obsolete",
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Cousin John"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "John",
        "3": "",
        "4": "outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet"
      },
      "expansion": "John (“outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From John (“outhouse; lavatory; chamber pot; toilet”). Possibly derived from a \"euphemistic phrase of excuse\" (e.g., \"visiting my cousin John\" or \"going to cousin John's house\"), similar to modern use of \"powdering one's nose\", but this is unattested.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "head": "Cousin John"
      },
      "expansion": "Cousin John (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Buildings",
        "en:Rooms",
        "en:Toilet (room)"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1735, Richard Waldron, \"A Freshman Guide\", in 1953, William Bentinck-Smith, The Harvard Book, p. 162",
          "text": "20. No freshman shall mingo against the College wall or go into the fellows' cuzjohn."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1741, \"The Customs of Harvard College\", in 1851, John Bartlett, A Collection of College Words and Customs, p. 319",
          "text": "18. No Freshman shall call or throw any thing across the College yard, nor go into the Fellow's Cuz-John.*\nAbbreviated for Cousin John, i.e. a privy."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, “Public Privies to Private Baths”, in The Guide to United States Popular Culture, page 645",
          "text": "American males often used British terms such as Cousin John or Jake to refer to a privy or a chamber pot.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A place or device for urination and defecation: an outhouse or chamber pot."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "place",
          "place"
        ],
        [
          "device",
          "device"
        ],
        [
          "urination",
          "urination"
        ],
        [
          "defecation",
          "defecation"
        ],
        [
          "outhouse",
          "outhouse"
        ],
        [
          "chamber pot",
          "chamber pot"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang, obsolete) A place or device for urination and defecation: an outhouse or chamber pot."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "obsolete",
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "word": "john"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Irish"
      ],
      "word": "jakes"
    },
    {
      "word": "bathroom and Thesaurus:chamber pot"
    },
    {
      "word": "cuz john"
    },
    {
      "word": "cuzjohn"
    },
    {
      "word": "Cuz-John"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Cousin John"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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