Meanings
- pluralplural of sanitary
- euphemisticpluralplural onlyFacilities for handling human waste; Structure containing toilets, seats over a cesspit, or tanks for holding excrement.
Building clean, lack of cloak rooms, poor ventilation; sanitaries need attention.
1864, Educational Pamphlets 48: Hygiene, page 4933 more examples
The sanitaries of the Washington school have outlived their usefulness, the odor from them and their surroundings being very offensive, and in my opinion injurious to pupils and teachers.
1904, Municipal Register of the City of Waterbury, page 34I'm blowing sanitaries. You pull the lever on that crapper and a few hundred pounds of smelly stuff will fly up your nose in a heart beat.
2003, Crazy Ivan: Based on a True Story of Submarine Espionage, →ISBN, page 38She headed for the sanitaries rather than the exterior hatch, and Zhang could clearly hear her vomiting inside the tiny compartment.
2016, D. Nolan Clark, Forsaken Skies, →ISBN - pluralplural onlyWhite knee-length stockings.
The 1909 Genoa High School Baseball Club members are shown wearing striped leggings, or stirrups, over white stockings called “sanitaries.”
2010, Denise Moran, Genoa and Kingston, →ISBN3 more examples
He picked up his white sanitaries and the red and white striped stirrup socks and sat down on the dressing stool once again before he slipped his feet into the sanitaries, making sure that the elastic tops reached just above his knees.
2002, Emil Mihelich, Around the Horn, →ISBN, page 107He switched on the light and donned his uniform: white pants that stopped high up the calf for the look he liked, sanitaries, navy blue stirrups, worn cleats, and the navy blue shirt that buttoned down the front and had "All-Stars" written on the front and his surname, "Pleasance," and number, "9," on the back.
2011, Peter Abrahams, Revolution #9, →ISBNSomebody —and I am certain it was Cade Hernandez —must have picked the thing up, because Coach Ritchey's rotten tooth had a way of showing up in a randomly selected boy's sanitaries, cap, or athletic supporter before every game we played.
2014, Andrew Smith, 100 Sideways Miles, →ISBN, page 17
Cite this entry
sanitaries. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sanitaries
“sanitaries.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sanitaries. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sanitaries,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sanitaries.
Source: sanitaries on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.