lotion

Formslotions, lotioning, lotioned

1. 1
   noununcountable

   A thin to medium-thick liquid preparation made for spreading onto unbroken skin.

   He smoothed lotion over his sunburned shoulders before bed.

   The pharmacist recommended a fragrance-free lotion for sensitive skin.

   Similarcream, moisturizer, balm, emollient

   Note

   The everyday sense grew out of an older one: Latin lōtiō meant "a washing," from lavō, "to wash," and the archaic "washing" sense keeps that original meaning. Today the word usually works as a mass noun (some lotion, too much lotion), and it readily takes a purpose word in front of it, as in sun-tan lotion.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To cover or treat the skin with a smooth liquid preparation.

   Nurses lotion the patient's dry skin twice a day.

   He lotioned his sunburned back carefully before getting dressed.

   Similarmoisturize, oil, anoint, cream

   Note

   A verb made directly from the noun, and its object typically names the part being treated: Grace lotions her arms and legs in Ryan Phillips's Fall from Grace (2005). The phrasal lotion up covers the same ground. The forms are regular (lotions, lotioning, lotioned) so the verb behaves like any ordinary transitive verb.

3. 3
   nounarchaicuncountable

   An act of washing, especially of the skin, done to make it more beautiful.

   A daily lotion of the skin was thought to preserve a youthful complexion.

   She performed a slow lotion of her face with rosewater each night.

   Note

   Here the word still carries its Latin meaning: it names the act of washing, not the liquid used for it. Because the sense is archaic, it reads as a period touch in modern prose. Outside a historical setting, a reader will likely picture a bottle rather than a bath. Its learned twin lavation, from the same Latin root, keeps the "washing" meaning without that risk.

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