A-Z Database

A-Z Database

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Pipped at/on the post

The OED gives pip in this sense as dialectical or slang dating from the late 19th century meaning, to defeat or beat an opponent, but adds that the or...

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Piss

Piss as a verb meaning to urinate or as a noun meaning urine, dates from at least the 1300s and derives from the Old French pisser to urinate. The ety...

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Piss against the wind

Waste one’s time or to be ineffectual, dates from the 1600s.


Piss and vinegar

see Full of piss and vinegar


Piss and wind

see All wind and piss


Piss away

To waste or squander dates from the 1600s.


Piss off

Slang for go away, dates from c.1946.


Piss or get off the pot

see Shit or get off the pot


Piss-elegant

Means flashy or affectedly refined, so is generally not a compliment. First citation in writing is from none other than Noel Coward, “The cast is very...

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Piss-poor

Piss-poor is slang for shoddy, inferior, not up to standard, and despite the folk etymology circulated online, it is relatively modern deriving from W...

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Piss-up

A drinking spree dates from the 1920s.


Pissed

In Britain, pissed means drunk and, according to the OED, dates from 1937, but some sources say earlier in the 20th century. In America, pissed means...

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Pissed as a (brewer’s) fart

According to the OED, this rather crude simile for being drunk dates from the 1990s. According to Cassells Dictionary of Slang it dates from the 1960s...

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Pissed as a newt

This common expression for being drunk, according the OED, dates from 1957 but the ‘newt’ part remains an unsolved etymological conundrum. Theories ab...

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Pissed as a rat

see Rat-arsed


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