# piss

/ˈpɪs/ (US) · /pˈɪs/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/piss
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. to urinate

verb · CEFR B2 · Vulgar

to pass liquid waste from your body.

For teachers: to urinate. Intransitive in its primary sense; considered vulgar in most social contexts.

- He had to stop the car because he really needed to piss.
- The dog had pissed against the garden fence, leaving a visible mark on the wood.

### 2. to rain heavily

verb · CEFR C1 · British English · Vulgar · Informal

to rain very hard.

For teachers: to rain with great intensity. Often used with 'it' as a dummy subject.

- We couldn't go for a walk because it was pissing with rain all day.
- It started pissing down just as we reached the summit, forcing us to seek immediate shelter in a nearby cave.

### 3. urine

noun · CEFR B2 · Vulgar

the yellow liquid waste that comes out of your body.

For teachers: urine. Uncountable when referring to the substance; countable when referring to the act of urination.

- The alleyway smelled strongly of piss and old rubbish.
- The laboratory technician requested a fresh sample, as the previous one was contaminated with more than just piss.

### 4. bad beer

noun · CEFR C1 · British English · Vulgar · Informal

weak or poor quality beer or alcohol.

For teachers: alcohol, particularly beer, perceived to be of inferior quality or weak strength.

- I'm not drinking that warm piss; let's go to a better pub.
- He complained that the local lager tasted like cat piss, much to the annoyance of the bartender.

### 6. to achieve easily

verb · CEFR C2 · British English · Vulgar · Slang

to do something very easily without much effort.

For teachers: to accomplish a task with negligible effort. Transitive; typically used in competitive or academic contexts.

- He's so smart he'll piss the exam without even studying.
- The home team is so much stronger that they should piss this match by at least three goals.

## Examples

- He smelled like old piss and cheap beer.
- The alleyway behind the nightclub always reeks of piss on Sunday mornings because people use it as a toilet.
- 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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.