close-stool

See also: closestool and close stool

English

A close-stool, circa 1650

Alternative forms

• close stoole, close stool, closestool

Etymology

From Middle English close stol, equivalent to close (“enclosed”, adjective) +‎ stool.

Noun

close-stool (plural close-stools)

1. (now historical) A chamber pot enclosed in a stool or box; a commode.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
     , Folio Society. 2006, p.17:

     other Princes, […] to dispatch their weightiest affaires make often their close stoole, their regall Throne or Councel-chamber

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid‎^[1], London: T. Passinger, page 166:

     […] be careful and diligent to all strangers, and see that they lack nothing in their Chambers, which your Mistress or Lady will allow, and that your close stools and Chamber pots be duely emptied, and kept clean and sweet.

   • 1748, Tobias Smollett, chapter 6, in The Adventures of Roderick Random‎^[2], volume 1, London: J. Osborn, page 32:

     […] being apprised of their ambush, I got home another way, and by the help of my landlord’s apprentice, emptied a close stool out of the garret window, which did great execution upon them […]

   • 2003, Mercedes Lackey/James Mallory, The Outstretched Shadow:

     "No more midnight treks to the outhouse. No more close-stools or thundermugs a feature of even the most exalted houses in Armethalieh."