English

Noun

douche ‎(plural douches)

1. A jet or current of water or vapour directed upon some part of the body to benefit it medicinally; in particular, such a jet directed at the **** for vaginal irrigation.
   • 1892 Robert Ottiwell Gifford-Bennet, Buxton and its Medicinal Waters, London: John Heywood,

     Massage, or kneading of the whole body, is carried out in this bath after which a steam douche or a warm spray is turned upon the affected parts, according to the nature of the case.

   • 1898 Selma Lagerlöf (trans. Pauline Bancroft Flach), The Story of Gösta Berling, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, Part II, Chapter I, p. 249 []

     Earth, the great mother, begins to live. Romping like a child she rises from her bath in the spring floods, from her douche in the spring rain.

   • 1973 Jaroslav Hašek (trans. Cecil Parrott), The Good Soldier Švejk, London: William Heinemann, Chapter 4, p. 32,

     In the bathroom they immersed him in a tub of warm water, and then pulled him out and put him under a cold douche.

2. Something that produces the jet or current in the previous sense, such as a syringe.
3. (slang, derogatory) A contemptible person; a worthless, brainless or disgusting person. (Earlier douche bag.)
   • 1991 Anthrax, "Startin' Up a Posse", from album Attack of the Killer B's (song lyrics)

     You say our records are offensive, (You're a douche, you're a douche.)

Related terms

• doos

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

douche ‎(third-person singular simple present douches, present participle douching, simple past and past participle douched)

1. To administer a douche to; to shower; to douse
   • 1926, D. H. Lawrence, The Plumed Serpent, New York: Knopf, Chapter II,

     […] a frizzy half-white woman who looked as if she had fallen into a flour-sack, her face was so deep in powder, and her frizzy hair and her brown silk dress so douched with the white dust of it.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VI, p. 81,

     Mrs. McLash's anger was gone completely, douched not nearly so much by the beer as by this attention to her son.

   • 1992, Edna O'Brien, Time and Tide, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, Chapter 9, p. 66,

     The boxes would reek of the smell of rich plum cake, with brandy or sherry douched over it.

   • 2007, Valerie Allen, On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, p. 153,

     Tragedy acts then like a laxative […] or an aperient […] to douche our systems of humors and emotions that unbalance the soul, so that we may return to the virtuous golden mean, to homeostatic equilibrium.

2. To use a douche.

Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

Borrowing from French douche ‎(“shower”), from Italian doccia ‎(“shower”). See also does ‎(“shower head”).

Noun

douche m, f ‎(plural douches, diminutive doucheje n)

1. shower

Verb

douche

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of douchen

French

Etymology

Borrowing from Italian doccia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /duʃ/

Noun

douche f ‎(plural douches)

1. shower
2. (juggling) shower

Verb

douche

1. first-person singular present indicative of doucher
2. third-person singular present indicative of doucher
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of doucher
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of doucher
5. second-person singular imperative of doucher

Related terms

• doucher
• douchette

See also

• bain

Descendants

Norman

Etymology

Borrowing from French douche, from Italian doccia.

Noun

douche f ‎(plural douches)

1. (Jersey) shower