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Glite Dictionary
piss and vinegar

piss and vinegar

3 9.9
A strong feeling of energy and eagerness to do things, sometimes with anger
  • idiom
  • /pɪs ənd ˈvɪnɪɡər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : ímpetu
  • In the beginning I was full of piss and vinegar.
  • full of piss and vinegar

Examples

  • And it's made you so full of piss and vinegar.

    Doomsday (2008)

  • I was full of piss and vinegar.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • - I have a lot of piss and vinegar.

    Crank: High Voltage (2009)

  • See, King is young, full of piss and vinegar.

    The Grave (1996)

  • So full of piss and vinegar, how old are you anyway?

    Blog text (11)

  • That's it, show a little piss and vinegar.

    The Corruptor (1999)

  • You're full of piss and vinegar today.

    The Eiger Sanction (1975)

  • "He's just full of piss and vinegar."

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I'm not a 23-year-old veteran full of piss and vinegar anymore.

    Here (2024)

  • After a long week, she showed up to the party full of piss and vinegar and ready to dance.

Antonyms

apathy
43 6.2

A lack of interest or care about things

lethargy
12 6.3

A feeling of tiredness and low energy

How Energetic

piss and vinegar
  • Offensive
3 9.9
feisty
59 4.8
energetic
93 1.6
lively
111 1.3
listless
12 6.1

Surface Forms

piss and vinegar singular
piss and vinegars plural

Morphology

piss + and + vinegar

The meaning ‘a great deal of energy or feistiness’ is not derivable from the literal senses of 'piss' (urine/to urinate) and 'vinegar' (a sour liquid). This is a colloquial, idiomatic (and somewhat vulgar) fixed phrase whose figurative sense is unpredictable from its parts, so learners knowing the constituents would not reliably infer the MWE meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrase piss and vinegar may come from a rude old image: piss (raw, strong) and vinegar (sharp, sour) together paint someone full of quick, lively energy and ready to argue, so it came to mean 'full of energy' or 'feisty'.