bath

Pluralbaths

Formsbaths, bathing, bathed

1. 1
   act of washingnouncountable

   An instance of washing the body by sitting or lying in water.

   A warm bath helped soothe her aching muscles after the marathon.

   He skipped his evening bath because he was too tired to move.

   UsageYou take or have a bath, and give a baby a bath.

   Similarsoak, wash, dip

   Note

   Here the bath is an event rather than a vessel or a place. In the plural it can name a course of treatment, as when Harry E. Wedeck's Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs (1961) sets radio-active baths beside hydrotherapy. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Harry E. Wedeck wrote Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs. en.wikipedia.org
   • Wedeck's book mentions radio-active baths alongside hydrotherapy. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   tubnouncountable

   A tub or large vessel used for washing the body by sitting in water.

   He scrubbed the bath until it gleamed.

   They installed a freestanding bath in the corner of the room.

   UsageBathtub names the container. Bath can also mean the water or the act of washing.

   Similartub, bathtub

3. 3
   toilet roomnouncolloquialabbreviationclipping

   Short for bathroom: a room with a toilet and sink, and usually a bathtub or shower, used especially in real estate listings.

   The renovated unit offers a master suite with its own bath.

   Each floor of the building includes a shared bath.

   Note

   A real-estate clipping. Listings shorten bathroom to bath, as in the master bath or a two-bath house, where the number of baths is one of a property's selling points. It means the whole room, not the tub inside it. Outside the trade it reads as informal, so the full bathroom is the safer choice in careful writing. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Bath is a clipping of bathroom associated with real estate. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   public poolnouncountable

   A building or public place set aside for bathing or swimming.

   Every afternoon she walked to the public bath to swim a few laps.

   The ancient baths still stand at the edge of the old city.

   UsageOften plural for an old public building: the baths, the Roman baths.

   Similarpool, bathhouse

5. 5
   soaking liquidnouncountable

   A liquid or other medium in which an object is immersed, often to heat, clean, or treat it.

   Technicians lowered the flask into a heated oil bath to keep the reaction stable.

   The photographs sat in a chemical bath until the images appeared.

   UsageUsually a bath of + substance, or a compound: an oil bath, an acid bath.

   Similarsolution

   Note

   This is the sense that leaves water behind. The medium can be a bath of heated sand, ashes, steam or hot air. In Th. Du Moncel's The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph (1879, translated from the French of 1878), white-hot charcoal is plunged into a bath of mercury. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • A bath can consist of heated sand, ashes, steam or hot air. en.wiktionary.org
   • Th. Du Moncel wrote the cited work. gutenberg.org
   • The work describes charcoal heated to white heat and plunged into a mercury bath. gutenberg.org
6. 6
   verbcolloquialCommonwealthintransitive

   To wash oneself, or wash a person or animal, by sitting or placing them in a bath of water.

   She prefers to bath in the morning rather than late at night.

   After the long hike, they bathed quickly and went straight to sleep.

   Similarbathe, wash

   Note

   "I never bath," runs a line in The Observant Pedestrian Mounted (1815). Only bath and baths give the verb away, because bathing and bathed are spelled exactly like the forms of bathe. It can also take an object, as when a parent baths the baby. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The Observant Pedestrian Mounted contains the words "I never bath". en.wiktionary.org
   • The verb bath has the forms baths, bathing and bathed. en.wiktionary.org
   • The corresponding forms of bathe are bathes, bathing and bathed, confirming the stated spelling distinction. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   water in tubnouncountable

   The quantity of water in which a person washes, considered as a body of liquid.

   He let the bath go cold while he answered the phone.

   A few drops of lavender turned the whole bath fragrant.

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