make water

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

make water (third-person singular simple present makes water, present participle making water, simple past and past participle made water)

  1. (euphemistic) To urinate.
    • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author by an Extraordinary Stratagem Prevents an Invasion. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 91:
      For, by the fundamental Laws of the Realm, it is Capital in any Perſon, of what Quality ſoever, to make water within the Precincts of the Palace.
    • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 907:
      She was dismayed by this unusual display of independence and took herself off to make water which she did with enough noise for four thoroughbreds.
  2. (nautical) (Of a ship or other vessel) to admit water; to leak.
    • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 115:
      “That patch we put on the cylinder head’s blown out, sir,” he reported, “and she’s makin’ water fast for’ard on the port bow.”

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