douche

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   offensive slang: an unpleasant, contemptible, or obnoxious person

   Calling a colleague a douche is insulting and inappropriate at work.

2. 2
   noun

   a jet or stream of water or medicated solution directed onto or into part of the body for washing or treatment

   A sudden douche of cold spray swept across the deck.

3. 3
   verb

   to wash a body cavity with a stream of water or another liquid

   The clinician advised the patient not to douche because it could disturb the natural bacterial balance.

Borrowed from French douche, 'shower,' from Italian doccia, 'shower or water pipe.' English first used it for a medicinal jet of water; the disparaging slang use developed much later from the compound douchebag.

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