pissabed

English

Alternative forms

• piss-the-bed, pissy-bed, pissy bed

Etymology

From piss +‎ bed, so called after the dandelion's supposed diuretic effect. Compare French pissenlit.

Noun

pissabed (plural pissabeds)

1. The dandelion, formerly much used for its diuretic properties. [from 16th c.]
   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

     Of flowers there was no trace, save of the flowers that plant themselves, or never die […] The chief of these was the pissabed.

   • 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, published 2016, page 139:

     The tufted hillock […] had no buildings on and only golden clumps of piss-the-bed that were not yet gone into misty balls of seed.

2. (dialect) Any of various other wild plants with diuretic properties; bluet, oxeye daisy, etc.

See also

• bedwetting