jakes

Etymology

From Middle English Jake (variant of “Jack”) or Jakke (variant of “Jacques” and “Jack”). Use as a place to urinate and defecate first attested in the form jacques. Compare terms such as US slang Cousin John and Quincy, used as euphemistic personifications the speaker was "visiting".

noun

1. plural of jake in its various senses.
2. .]](now chiefly Ireland) A place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
   And the treasures of the floor and walls went raw into the jakeses from my brush and dustpan: sludges, geodes, hair, dead insects and arachnidae, a rubber glove and tainted paper waste, a mouse's skull and tail, a set of used plasters, […] 1994, Derek Beaven, Newton’s Niece, Fourth Estate, published 1999, page 8

verb

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of jake: to play a form of prank