commode

com·mode

noun \kə-ˈmōd\

Definition of COMMODE

1

: a woman's ornate cap popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries

2

a : a low chest of drawers

b : a movable washstand with a cupboard underneath

c : a boxlike structure holding a chamber pot under an open seat; also : chamber pot

d : toilet 3b

Examples of COMMODE

1. There are towels in the cabinet above the commode.

Illustration of COMMODE

Origin of COMMODE

French, from commode, adjective, suitable, convenient, from Latin commodus, from com- + modus measure — more at mete

First Known Use: circa 1688

Other Household Terms

cruet, curiosity, duvet, fiasco, sham, taper, valance, whatnot

Rhymes with COMMODE

abode, anode, bar code, boatload, busload, byroad, carload, cartload, caseload, cathode, church mode, corrode, crossroad, dead load, decode, diode, displode, download, dress code, dynode, embowed, encode, epode, erode, explode, forebode, freeload, front-load, geode, high road, implode, inroad, live load, lymph node, no-load, off-load, outmode, payload, planeload, postcode, post road, railroad, rhapsode, sarod, shipload, side road, Silk Road, skid road, source code, spring-load, square-toed, tetrode, threnode, trainload, triode, truckload, unload, upload, zip code

commode

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Piece of furniture resembling the English chest of drawers, used in France from the late 17th century. Most had marble tops, and some were fitted with pairs of doors. André-Charles Boulle was among the first to make commodes, which were heavy in form and elaborately decorated in marquetry veneers and ormolu. In the Louis XV period (1715–74), extravagant curves and flamboyant surface ornament became fashionable. The 19th-century commode lost its decorative features and became purely functional.