Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb UK, euphemistic, idiomatic To use the
toilet .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb eliminate urine
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from the act of putting a (pre-decimal) penny in the slot of a pay-toilet
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word spend a penny.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
sionnach commented on the word spend a penny
To use a public lavatory.
This refers to the (former) use of coin operated locks on public toilets. It was used mostly in the UK and mostly by women (men's urinals were free of charge).
Such locks were first introduced, at a public toilet outside the Royal Exchange, London, in the 1850s. The term itself is later though. The first recorded citation of it is in H. Lewis's Strange Story, 1945:
"'Us girls,' she said, 'are going to spend a penny!'"
'Spend a penny' has now gone out of use, partly because charges have changed and partly because it was always a coy euphemism, which now seems rather dated. The writing was on the wall for this phrase, so to speak, from 1977, when the Daily Telegraph printed an article headed "2p to spend a penny".
www.phrases.org
male equivalent: 'see a man about a dog'
February 8, 2009
bilby commented on the word spend a penny
What's the going rate these days? 30p for a pee?
I'm devastated that the first one wasn't at Waterloo.
February 8, 2009
dontcry commented on the word spend a penny
"Waterloo!" *snort*
February 9, 2009
sionnach commented on the word spend a penny
I imagine nowadays that charges are reckoned in uros.
Tee-hee!
February 11, 2009
plethora commented on the word spend a penny
*groan*
February 11, 2009