Idiom
break the seal
Meaning
To urinate, particularly for the first time after drinking alcohol.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“I need to break the seal before we leave the bar.”
“She refuses to break the seal because the line for the restroom is too long.”
“Once you break the seal after a few beers, you will have to go to the bathroom all night.”
“My friend finally had to break the seal during the second movie of our marathon after drinking a large soda.”
“He hesitated to break the seal, knowing that once he started, the frequent trips to the restroom would become inevitable.”
Examples
simple
“I need to break the seal before we leave the bar.”
“She refuses to break the seal because the line for the restroom is too long.”
contextual
“Once you break the seal after a few beers, you will have to go to the bathroom all night.”
“My friend finally had to break the seal during the second movie of our marathon after drinking a large soda.”
complex
“He hesitated to break the seal, knowing that once he started, the frequent trips to the restroom would become inevitable.”
Origin
The idiom originates from the colloquial observation of an increased physiological need to urinate following the initial instance of urination after the ingestion of alcohol. The phrasing suggests a permanent structural failure, as though the first visit to the facilities compromises a regulatory valve that cannot be reset for the remainder of the evening. Management of the bladder is thus treated as a singular event; once the seal is broken, the frequency of subsequent interruptions is expected to increase.
Key words
Related idioms
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