Learn English – Is “take a bath” or “bathe” used to mean “take a shower” in some English dialects

american-englishbritish-englishdialectsnon-standardregional

By analogy with Portuguese tomar banho [de chuveiro/ducha], which along with tomar uma ducha/chuveirada (Br.)/duche (Port.) means, take a shower,

are there any parts of the English speaking world in which one can hear phrases like

take a bath

and/or bathe,

be commonly (not to say idiomatically) used to mean, take a shower, in such a way that the word shower in such regions is exclusively used to call the shower apparatus?

bathe

: to bathe oneself; take a bath or shower (emphasis is mine.)

Webster's New World College Dictionary

bath

a washing or immersion of something, especially the body, in water, steam, etc., as for cleansing or medical treatment:
I take a bath every day.

Random House

For example,

I was in the shower bathing/taking a bath when the telephone rang.

I bathe [=take a shower] every day, but I can't seem to remember the last time I took a bath.

Best Answer

First off, in the US a bathroom is a place with a toilet and sink. The actual tub/shower is optional. (When selling homes the toilet-only room is called a "half bath" while the one with tub is a "full bath", and it's a "three-quarters bath" if it's got toilet and shower but no tub.) However, in businesses and other public buildings the toilet room is more commonly referred to as a restroom.

And even when the "facilities" are no more elaborate than a shed with pit underneath it, the typical American English speaker may very well refer to it as "the bathroom" out of habit, though in this case the term "toilet" is more apt to be used.

When describing his intent to bathe his entire body, the typical American English speaker would say he was going to "take a bath". If he intended to shower only, he might instead express that qualification by saying he was going to "take a shower". It's vaguely possible he might express an intent to "bathe", but that's a rather quaint way to say it.

If the typical American English speaker needed to perform an excretory function he would say he needed to "go to the bathroom" (possibly substituting some euphemism for "bathroom"), or, particularly before/after a meal, he might say he needed to "wash up". And it would not be unusual for a host to courteously ask if a guest would like to "wash up" before a meal (or perhaps simply after arriving in the house following a lengthy journey). On re-reading this it occurs to me that "use the bathroom" would be more idiomatic (and slightly more polite) than "go to the bathroom", since "go" implies excretion while "use" is more ambiguous.

(But note that these are "typical American English" terms, and it's entirely possible that different terms are used in West Boston or some such, as is common with domestic terms.)