to relieve nature
- phrasal verb
- Archaic
:
ir al baño
- I need to relieve nature before we continue our hike.
Examples
-
It's best to find a restroom when you need to relieve nature.
-
After drinking so much water, he had to relieve nature quickly.
-
The Curious utters an urgent wish to relieve nature near The Digger of Wells, but The Fighter implores him to wait.
Academic text (1997)
Synonyms
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
26
9.9
To poop solid waste out of the body
19
7.0
To pass poo out of the body through the opening at the bottom
11
7.5
To pee or poo, usually in a toilet
1
8.5
To pee or poop
Antonyms
How Polite
- Archaic
- US
77
1.1
- Informal
371
2.6
- NSFW
41
9.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
relieve + nature
Although 'relieve' (to reduce discomfort) is transparent, using 'nature' to mean 'bodily/urinary/defecatory needs' is an idiomatic, euphemistic extension that a B1 learner who knows the literal senses would unlikely predict. The phrase is rare and culture-specific (parallel to 'relieve oneself' but less common), so the overall meaning cannot be reliably derived from the constituents.
Etymology
Relieve nature comes from a simple polite image: relieve means 'to make less uncomfortable' and nature means 'the body's natural needs', so people used the phrase to talk gently about going to the toilet. That's why it now means 'to urinate or defecate' or 'use the restroom' in a polite way.