passing water
- noun
- UK
:
orinar
- The doctor asked if he had any difficulty with passing water.
Examples
-
Frequent passing water can be a symptom of certain medical conditions.
-
He was passing water when I called him.
-
She excused herself to passing water during the meeting.
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Excuse me, I need to go passing water.
-
Frequent passing water can indicate issues with the urinary tract.
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She politely stepped out of the room for a moment of passing water.
-
The nurse asked if he was experiencing any pain while passing water.
Synonyms
81
8.4
An informal rude word for the act of passing urine
13
3.9
Passing urine from the body
5
7.9
A polite word for peeing often used for children
1
4.6
To let urine leave your body
1
9.9
A childish word children use for pee
An act of peeing to empty your bladder
How Polite
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although euphemistic, the meaning is directly composed from 'pass' (to expel bodily waste) and 'water' (urine), so the overall sense ‘to urinate’ is predictable from the constituents. A B1 learner who knows these word senses would therefore be able to infer the MWE meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Passing water is a polite phrase that creates the image of water flowing or passing out of the body, like liquid moving through a pipe. That's why it is used as a gentle way to say 'to urinate'.