Entry revised for OED Online

[1922 JOYCE Ulysses 556 O yes, mon loup. How much cost? Waterloo. Watercloset. 1932 N. MITFORD Christmas Pudding ix. 137 The absence in his speech of such expressions as ‘O.K. loo’..‘we'll call it a day’.] 1940 N. MITFORD Pigeon Pie ii. 27 In the night when you want to go to the loo. 1943 C. BEATON in Horizon Jan. 37 They had dressed, teeth brushed, breakfasted, had visited the loo, and were on their precarious journey all in a question of fifteen minutes. 1944 AUDEN For Time Being (1945) 20 Between the bottle and the ‘loo’ A lost thing looks for a lost name. 1954 KOESTLER Invis. Writing xxxix. 419 The story of ‘the loo-tank papers’..is another instance of the cloak-and-dagger atmosphere. 1955 G. FREEMAN Liberty Man II. vi. 113 Johnnie, do take him to the loo, there's a good boy. 1957 P. WILDEBLOOD Main Chance 57 The loo's on the landing, if you want to spend a penny. 1960 C. MACKENZIE Greece in my Life 23, I think I should sigh for the old Grande Bretagne Hotel in spite of the squalor of the loo which was no paradise for dysentery. 1971 Petticoat 17 July 31/2 You can wait until he goes to the loo or, if he appears to have a bladder like an ox, send him to the kitchen for more coffee. 1972 Guardian 23 Feb. 18/5 Matching bathmats (£2.20)..and loo seat covers (£1.80 and £1.12). 1973 E. MCGIRR Bardel's Murder iv. 85 A neighbouring cat had come through the window and made away with the loo brush. 1974 Observer 28 Apr. 28/6 The loo rolls unfurling across the pitch.