WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed reports that he used vulgarity in describing Democrat Hillary Clinton’s primary loss to now-President Barack Obama in 2008.

Trump said Monday night, “She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost,” using a slang word for male genitalia.

The GOP front-runner argued with that definition on Twitter Tuesday. “’Schlonged’ is not vulgar,” he wrote. “When I said Hillary got ‘schlonged’ that meant beaten badly.”

He said the “dishonest” mainstream media was giving the word “false meaning.”

Trump, who has ramped up his criticism of Clinton in recent weeks, also mocked Clinton on Monday for returning late to Saturday’s debate following a commercial break because she’d been using the bathroom.

“I know where she went. It’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it,” he added. “No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has used what could be interpreted as gendered language to criticize Clinton. He has repeatedly described her as lacking the strength and stamina to be president and invoked the image of her putting on a pantsuit before heading to work.

In an interview Tuesday with The Des Moines Register, Clinton said: “Nothing really surprises me anymore. I don’t know that he has any boundaries at all. His bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign. And he has to keep sort of upping the stakes and going even further.”