to spend a penny
1
9.9
- idiom
- /spɛnd ə ˈpɛni/
- Archaic
:
ir al baño
- I'll spend a penny.
Examples
-
Well, you said you wanted to spend a penny.
-
I need to spend a penny first.
-
Oh, I... just wanted to spend a penny.
-
Look, if this is going to be a long do, I want to spend a penny.
-
- I'm just gonna spend a penny.
-
If you spend a penny, it'll warm you up.
-
Plus, I didn't spend a penny for 3 whole weeks!
Blog text (23) -
We don't spend-- we don't spend a penny.
-
She wouldn't have to spend a penny.
Fiction book (1992) -
I really need to spend a penny before we continue our walk.
Synonyms
947
8.3
To pass urine in rude speech
371
2.6
To let out the body's yellow liquid
278
1.0
To use the toilet in a polite or indirect way
77
1.1
To go to the toilet to pee or poo
69
3.3
To pass urine
52
9.9
To pee in a rude way
41
9.3
To pee or pass urine from your body
11
7.5
To pee or poo, usually in a toilet
5
9.5
To pee when you need the toilet
4
9.7
To pee when you need to go to the toilet
2
8.1
To pass urine from the body, often said to children
1
9.2
To pee, often used about children or animals
1
1.9
To go to a room with a toilet to pee or poo
1
8.0
To go to the toilet to pee or poo
1
9.1
To pass urine from the body
To let urine come out of your body
To pass urine from the body
Surface Forms
Morphology
spend + a + penny
This is a British euphemism whose meaning 'to go to the toilet' is not predictable from the literal words 'spend' and 'penny'; a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely interpret it as spending money rather than needing a restroom. The toilet sense depends on cultural/historical knowledge (pay-toilet charging a penny) and is therefore not transparently compositional.
Etymology
The idiom spend a penny comes from old British public toilets that charged a penny to enter. People had to put a penny into a lock or give it to a person working there, so saying spend a penny became a polite way to say 'to go to the toilet'.