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REFERENCE

piss

n. uncountable
C1 Advanced US //ˈpɪs// UK //pˈɪs// piss Vulgar

n. the yellow liquid that comes out of your body when you go to the bathroom. It is a very rude word for urine, so be careful who you say it to.

n. the liquid waste product excreted from the body; urine. Highly informal and vulgar in register; frequently used in idiomatic expressions regarding anger or intoxication.


SIMPLE

He smelled like old piss and cheap beer.

CONTEXTUAL

The alleyway behind the nightclub always reeks of piss on Sunday mornings because people use it as a toilet.

COMPLEX

While the biological reality of urea and waste is universal, the social taboo surrounding the word piss remains strong enough to exclude it from all but the most casual or aggressive discourse.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English pisse (noun) and pissen (verb), from Old French pissier, possibly from Vulgar Latin *pīssiāre, probably of imitative origin. Compare Old Norse pissa (“to urinate, piss”). Displaced Old English micge.

Usage

Uncountable when referring to the substance; often used in the singular with 'a' in the British idiom 'take the piss' (to mock).

Idioms17 entries

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