pissabed
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From piss + bed, so called after the dandelion's supposed diuretic effect. Compare French pissenlit.
Noun
pissabed (plural pissabeds)
- The dandelion, formerly much used for its diuretic properties. [from 16th c.]
- 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt:
- 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 2016, p. 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.
- 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt:
- (dialect) Any of various other wild plants with diuretic properties; bluet, oxeye daisy, etc.